Now reading...

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, Brad said:

Did you read his first one?

I read The Sympathizer & The Refugees.

[Quasimado]

On 4/23/2021 at 11:38 PM, Brad said:

I ran across this story via an interview by Ethan Iverson with Gerald Early; the interview was discussed here.

Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin.

https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2B-HUM/Readings/Baldwin-Sonnys-Blues.pdf

It's taken from The Jazz Fiction Anthology, published by Indiana University Press.  

Fascinating - I'd never read Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" before - 50s, heroin, jazz ...

Followed up with the Gerald Early/ Ethan Iverson discussion.

Many thanks

 

[Brad]

1 minute ago, Quasimado said:

Fascinating - I'd never read Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" before - 50s, heroin, jazz ...

Followed up with the Gerald Early/ Ethan Iverson discussion.

Many thanks

 

It’s a great — if that’s the right word — story. I found the Early/Iverson article through here (maybe Mark Stryker), which led me to the story. 

[ghost of miles]

Really enjoyed his book about the making of High Noon and so far this one is quite promising as well:

[Brad]

[erwbol]

I ordered this

in anticipation of the release of the following in October

[erwbol]

Still reading John McWhorter's Losing the Race.

Now also reading Ken MacLeod's The Execution Channel.

[ghost of miles]

On some sort of artist-in-city kick:

[erwbol]

On 31/05/2021 at 7:29 PM, erwbol said:

Disturbing reading, and it's over 21 years old already. Seems clear things have not improved.

[jlhoots]

14 hours ago, rostasi said:

My copy is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

[JSngry]

16 hours ago, rostasi said:

The tone of the academic framing, I could live with, as what is being framed is pretty useful, but dammit, I would pay extra for a bigger font!

[mjazzg]

[ghost of miles]

[riddlemay]

[Serioza]

[erwbol]

[jlhoots]

Louise Erdrich: The Night Watchman

[mjazzg]

2 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Louise Erdrich: The Night Watchman

I had forgotten about her. I was knocked out by one of her novels back in the 80s but I can't remember which it was. I should reacquaint myself.

[jlhoots]

14 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

I had forgotten about her. I was knocked out by one of her novels back in the 80s but I can't remember which it was. I should reacquaint myself.

Love Medicine was the first one I read. Have read almost every novel of hers since. This one won the Pulitzer prize.

[erwbol]

[mjazzg]

Just finished.  Always a joy to read another Barry, here's to the next one.

And now

[jlhoots]

I'm also currently reading Sun Ra's Chicago.

[ghost of miles]

A new NYRB Classics reprint of this novel by William Gardner Smith, a writer who’s long intrigued me—many years ago I tracked down a copy of his South Street, the only book by him that I’ve read to date. Anybody interested in depictions fictional or otherwise of the mid-20th century Black expatriate community in Paris might want to pick this one up: 

And

[jlhoots]

Helene Wecker: The Hidden Palace

[danasgoodstuff]

Merging Lines: American Railroads 1900-1970, by Richard Saunders, Jr..  He does a good job of pulling an interesting narrative out of the sea of detail that is railroading in 20th Century America.  Lots of maps and other facts and figures, but not overwhelmingly so.  Surely the most thoroughly documented industry ever?  Like baseball, it just seems to lend itself to obsessing over details and stats.  My dad loved trains and so do I, so this renewed interest works for me on many levels.