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9. God's Country, Percival Everett
8. Heart of Stone, C. E. Murphy
7. The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero, William Kalush and Larry Sloman
6. The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
5. Limeys: The True Story of One Man's War Against Ignorance, the Establishment and the Deadly Scurvy, David I. Harvie
4. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
3. Tatham Mound, Piers Anthony
2. Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
1. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
I started reading God's Country, then shared the humor with Nathan. He said, "It sounds like Blazing Saddles." And it is much like Blazing Saddles: rampant racism mixed with humor.
Curt Marder is a rancher who returns home just in time to see raiders dressed haphazardly as Indians kill his dog, burn his house and barn, and run off with his wife. Curt returns to town to look for help. The only person available is the black tracker Bubba.
Thus begins a story rife with racism against black people and Indians, in a time when slavery was freshly abolished and before Custer fought the Sioux at Little Big Horn.
This book somewhat reminds me of the don't ask don't tell debate that's going on right now. I heard a Marine on the radio who said he didn't know how a unit could trust someone who's gay, not only on the battlefield but also on base, in the barracks. The whole debate makes me throw my hands in the air and say, "Why the fuck does it matter?" If one's gender doesn't matter (in the cases of biological males and females, at any rate), and one's skin color doesn't matter, and one's national origin doesn't matter, and all these people can be trusted--as can closeted gays--in the showers and in battle, then why does it matter if someone is in or out of the closet?
God's Country is set in a time before homosexuality was a hot-button issue, but the time had its own: race. Though in this book it's mostly one-sided. White folks hate anyone who's not white while Bubba and the other black character live in fear of being blamed for anything at all, because who knows what they'll be hanged for? The white characters in the book are willing enough to hurt or kill them just because they're black.
This book is funny. It is infuriating. It's thoughtful. It's a cross between a light read (I read more than half of it just today) and a heavy literary tome. I enjoyed it.
8. Heart of Stone, C. E. Murphy
7. The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero, William Kalush and Larry Sloman
6. The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
5. Limeys: The True Story of One Man's War Against Ignorance, the Establishment and the Deadly Scurvy, David I. Harvie
4. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
3. Tatham Mound, Piers Anthony
2. Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
1. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
I started reading God's Country, then shared the humor with Nathan. He said, "It sounds like Blazing Saddles." And it is much like Blazing Saddles: rampant racism mixed with humor.
Curt Marder is a rancher who returns home just in time to see raiders dressed haphazardly as Indians kill his dog, burn his house and barn, and run off with his wife. Curt returns to town to look for help. The only person available is the black tracker Bubba.
Thus begins a story rife with racism against black people and Indians, in a time when slavery was freshly abolished and before Custer fought the Sioux at Little Big Horn.
This book somewhat reminds me of the don't ask don't tell debate that's going on right now. I heard a Marine on the radio who said he didn't know how a unit could trust someone who's gay, not only on the battlefield but also on base, in the barracks. The whole debate makes me throw my hands in the air and say, "Why the fuck does it matter?" If one's gender doesn't matter (in the cases of biological males and females, at any rate), and one's skin color doesn't matter, and one's national origin doesn't matter, and all these people can be trusted--as can closeted gays--in the showers and in battle, then why does it matter if someone is in or out of the closet?
God's Country is set in a time before homosexuality was a hot-button issue, but the time had its own: race. Though in this book it's mostly one-sided. White folks hate anyone who's not white while Bubba and the other black character live in fear of being blamed for anything at all, because who knows what they'll be hanged for? The white characters in the book are willing enough to hurt or kill them just because they're black.
This book is funny. It is infuriating. It's thoughtful. It's a cross between a light read (I read more than half of it just today) and a heavy literary tome. I enjoyed it.