What I've Been Reading Lately
Some years ago, I started seeing links to this article around making an effort to read minority authors go around my friends. I mostly ignored it, largely because I have this giant backlog of books I've been meaning to read (currently 4+ single-spaced pages) and most of my focus as been on that. This year, I've inadvertently run in that direction. I thought it would be interesting to trace how I got from one book to the next.
1. My sister's book summary for 2017 mentioned that she greatly enjoyed the March comics, which discuss the Civil Rights movement from the perspective of John Lewis. Those were actually on my list already, so I bumped them up to the top and read all three.
2. Someone at work gave away a bunch of books, so I snagged The Color Purple and read it July.
3. One of my favorite books of 2017 was Underground Airlines. I was in the process of recommending it to someone and happened to read its wiki page, which mentioned that it followed thematic footsteps put down by the science fiction novel Kindred by Octavia Butler. I snagged that from the library
4. Reading March led me to read the second volume of Taylor Branch's history of the Civil Rights Movement, mostly when I was in California. I'd read the first volume in 2017, and while Mr. Branch is not a minority, Pillar of Fire provided significant extra depth to the stories told in March.
5. Last year I also read Roots. Alex Haley famously also wrote The Autobiography of Malcom X. Malcolm X was a major part of Pillar of Fire, so I read that next.
6. Another person who made an appearance in both Pillar of Fire and The Autobiography of Malcolm X was James Baldwin. The Fire Next Time was already on my list, so I pulled that next and cruised through it (it's only about 100 pages).
7. Baldwin made some references to Invisible Man, so I knocked that out next.
That brings me more or less to today. I've got The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead cued up next (he was on my list before), and I'm nearly finished with the Morgan Parker anthology I started in November. If I continue this trend organically, that's fine. My list of unread books is too long to force it.
The original article specifically suggests reading books by minority authors who aren't writing about slavery, racism and the like, so in that sense this list, which is almost entirely a reaction to slavery and racism, isn't particularly "progress" in the sense that the article suggested.
1. My sister's book summary for 2017 mentioned that she greatly enjoyed the March comics, which discuss the Civil Rights movement from the perspective of John Lewis. Those were actually on my list already, so I bumped them up to the top and read all three.
2. Someone at work gave away a bunch of books, so I snagged The Color Purple and read it July.
3. One of my favorite books of 2017 was Underground Airlines. I was in the process of recommending it to someone and happened to read its wiki page, which mentioned that it followed thematic footsteps put down by the science fiction novel Kindred by Octavia Butler. I snagged that from the library
4. Reading March led me to read the second volume of Taylor Branch's history of the Civil Rights Movement, mostly when I was in California. I'd read the first volume in 2017, and while Mr. Branch is not a minority, Pillar of Fire provided significant extra depth to the stories told in March.
5. Last year I also read Roots. Alex Haley famously also wrote The Autobiography of Malcom X. Malcolm X was a major part of Pillar of Fire, so I read that next.
6. Another person who made an appearance in both Pillar of Fire and The Autobiography of Malcolm X was James Baldwin. The Fire Next Time was already on my list, so I pulled that next and cruised through it (it's only about 100 pages).
7. Baldwin made some references to Invisible Man, so I knocked that out next.
That brings me more or less to today. I've got The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead cued up next (he was on my list before), and I'm nearly finished with the Morgan Parker anthology I started in November. If I continue this trend organically, that's fine. My list of unread books is too long to force it.
The original article specifically suggests reading books by minority authors who aren't writing about slavery, racism and the like, so in that sense this list, which is almost entirely a reaction to slavery and racism, isn't particularly "progress" in the sense that the article suggested.