25 fiction, 25 nonfiction

Books read:
1. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides, 544pg

Completed for the year:
Escape From Slavery, Francis Bok
In Contempt of Fate, Beatrice Fernando
Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane
Kaffir Boy in America, Mark Mathabane
Do They Hear You When You Cry, Fauziya Kassindja
The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley
Tar Baby - Toni Morrison

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I didn't particularly care for this book because it was just way too flowery with lots of details/allegories/metaphors, etc. Meh! But I do have two interesting quotes - very long. She writes long rambling paragraphs that you really have to keep reading to get the full effect of what she's saying.

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:)

I really shouldn't be starting a book, but hey it's spring break (weee....). Following this I would like to read, What Really Happened in Nanking: the Refutation of a Common Myth, by Tanaka Masaaki (online text20 May 2007 ( Read more... )

The account of a girl from Togo, Africa who came to America to escape a forced polygamous marriage and dangerous female circumcision procedure. She did not have legal papers to come in, but she asked for political asylum. She was put into a detention center and eventually actual prisons for her "crime." ( Read more... )

This book is a continuation of Kaffir Boy, detailing what went on as he was leaving South Africa and his experiences in America.

( Excerpts )

This book is well-written and kept me reading. Mark Mathabane is very detailed about his life growing up black in apartheid South Africa. He describes how poor his family was and the things they did just to survive in the ghetto. Think of a one square mile plot of land with several hundred families all living in the same space. His family ( Read more... )

What is it like to need a job so badly that you would fly to another country to be a housemaid, even though you have read stories about how other girls in the same situation have been beaten/raped/killed? ( Read more... )