Interesting approach, repurposing direct quotes from Coretta's autobiography for this beautiful picture book. The illustrations are high art, and totaInteresting approach, repurposing direct quotes from Coretta's autobiography for this beautiful picture book. The illustrations are high art, and totally knock it out of the park....more
As a non-mom, picked this up on a whim from my local library because it appeared to be written by someone not living in the US. I noted the frustratinAs a non-mom, picked this up on a whim from my local library because it appeared to be written by someone not living in the US. I noted the frustrating similarities between women living in different countries who have the privilege and freedom to choose not to have children. I missed getting her male partner's perspective, but I guess I understand why she left it out (focus on the female). I enjoyed her art style and was impressed with the number of ways author Olmo managed to depict "ruminating" and "irritation." I was glad she didn't villainize mothers or parents. Could have been a shorter piece, probably, as this content is more essay-length than book length....more
I think the best review I can offer for this novel is that I was riding on the Boston subway one morning and a man across from me --a French-speaking I think the best review I can offer for this novel is that I was riding on the Boston subway one morning and a man across from me --a French-speaking Black American guy who looked young but also kind of ageless-- said to me, "Ah. Messy Roots. I see you're reading that book. I've read it, too. It's very good." I heartily agreed and we spent the next twenty minutes of our ride discussing it and, in general, the pleasures of reading....more
Unusual that this is a musician's actual childhood mythology retold as a picture book, told in first person as himself. Very 'Black uplift.' I appreciUnusual that this is a musician's actual childhood mythology retold as a picture book, told in first person as himself. Very 'Black uplift.' I appreciated it! Fun collage illustrations....more
I do love the author-read audio book memoir, man. Learned about Brian Broome via a Boston Book Festival panel and was curious about his story, which lI do love the author-read audio book memoir, man. Learned about Brian Broome via a Boston Book Festival panel and was curious about his story, which led me to checking out the audio version from my local library. Brian's beautiful reading voice contrasts wildly with the horrible things that happen to him. It's hard (for me) to imagine reading aloud (for casual public consumption) about brutal parental beatings over what seemed like inconsequential quirks of a child's personality, or negligence on the part of other adults and family members, or suffering acts of racist aggression so blunt and life-threatening the perpetrators might as well have been supervillains.
Born and raised in New Jersey, I am a bit younger than Brian but also a grandchild of the Great Migration. My parents and family were / are fairly progressive, they were raised up by the Black Power, Afrocentric, and Back-to-the-Earth cultures and psychologies that I guess made it so I was shielded from the idea that it's better to beat or nearly-kill your own child than let white people do it, which feels like it's half-a-step from the slave ship mythology (practice? mentality?) of throwing an infant overboard to drowning and sharks rather than let that child be enslaved. It's really amazing that Brain made it out of childhood. I imagine, after all that, it might be nearly impossible to trust people or allow oneself the vulnerability required for romantic or platonic, or even familial, love.
I didn't want to feel worried for Brian. (He made it!) But I did, which in turn made me wary of the "pain porn" elements of this book. Listening along, I vacillated between wondering who this book was written for and believing it's essentially a collection of journal entries where Brian is telling his story to himself. I could see lots of non-Black folk misunderstanding what's going on here and just adding this attempt to the pile of Black Suffering media that non-Black people can consume casually before going back to shopping for a new Tesla or counting their money or whatever.
One of my favorite sections of the book was the snippet of Brian's mother's story. That was a lovely, if sobering, surprise. One aspect I missed was any evidence of what was going on for Brian's siblings while he suffered through his childhood. I know it's not their story, and it's important to be respectful of boundaries, and yet having some access to how they were experiencing things might have helped mitigate the "pain porn" elements, or at least offer other context.
Finally, I found how this book was framed around Lucille Clifton's "We Real Cool" jazz-pool-hall poem super clever. That poem is a favorite of mine and the tone was perfect for what Brian was trying to do with this story of how he survived while trying to be seen as the coolest, the most worthy, and essentially having no clue as to how to make any of that work in his favor....more
Fierce, angry, sharply intelligent and unapologetic--this is the contemporary (East) Asian American treatise on race I've been waiting for. I listenedFierce, angry, sharply intelligent and unapologetic--this is the contemporary (East) Asian American treatise on race I've been waiting for. I listened to the audio book version, read by the author. Learned TONS....more
I don't think Ross Gay's intention with this book is to make you fall in love with him, but I did come away from four months of reading his 42nd year I don't think Ross Gay's intention with this book is to make you fall in love with him, but I did come away from four months of reading his 42nd year (during my 42nd year --see that symmetry there?) with renewed enthusiasm for the powers of lotion-ing oneself and for purposeful loitering and really leaning into embarrassment and shame until, coming out the other side, you discover what is hilarious and profound.
EVERY SINGLE TIME I picked up The Book of Delights, I giggled aloud at least 2-5x, sometimes in recognition, sometimes in horror, sometimes in joy and, yep, delight. I will also admit to several incidents of tears prickling my eyes.
Bought this book by accident (attempting to purchase the poetry volume, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which I later found in a Little Free Library), similar to sorta accidentally going to a IRL reading at Radcliffe when Ross Gay --whom I'd never heard of but who was described in the Radcliffe Fellows program in such a way to present the picture of a tall, sweet-faced Black man with twin buns/afro puffs who likes to write about flowers-- featured in a room packed with people. Ross Gay greeted me brightly when I appeared, late to the reading, craning my neck around to find a seat, and beckoned me to the front: "Don't be afraid. I don't bite." So, all those years ago, I had to do the walk of shame and go sit right near him, and be lulled by his beautiful voice and deep, glowing kindness and shapely, sexy thighs as he perched on a stool. I hope he didn't feel me ogling those thighs, but maybe he didn't mind since his body and sensuality and Audre Lorde-style eroticism feature in The Book of Delights, along with pretty much every other thing one might bump into in an ordinary life --hanging with buddies, losing buddies, observing humanity at a funeral, losing a parent, finding loves, being discriminated against, suffering teens, suffering the inhumane lack of public restrooms, and observing the power of a baby toddling down an airplane aisle.
Did The Book of Delights prompt me to fall in love with Ross Gay? Not really. I was already there. However, I think my partner, witness to my many morning giggles and who patiently listened to occasional excerpts I read aloud, may have crossed over. So maybe Ross Gay gained two fans where he originally held one, through sheer, shared delight. Man --that's power....more
When I heard about this book that depicts one, single moment of appreciation and inspiration for a little Black girl, I knew I had to read it. The stoWhen I heard about this book that depicts one, single moment of appreciation and inspiration for a little Black girl, I knew I had to read it. The story is simple, uncluttered, sweet. The art is a power punch of adorable. I appreciated the sense of sisterhood. Add one more to the later 2010s micro-genre of uplift books for Black American children....more
A strong addition to the verse autobiography movement that seems to be in play right now. This is an autobiography of a liberation movement more than A strong addition to the verse autobiography movement that seems to be in play right now. This is an autobiography of a liberation movement more than it plumbs the depths of Ms. Anderson's childhood and younger life, but she shares the reason for that: respecting the privacy of the living (her family, friends, etc.) Although I knew there'd be details about sexual aggression and abuse in this book, I was still unprepared for just how much. Even though I'm not a survivor, I had to take breaks from the pain and ferocity. Equally shocking is her reception as an author in professional/educations spaces --like schools and libraries-- and the crazed measures people have taken to block her work, especially Speak. Ms. Anderson's fans will likely whoop and weep and thrive in the victory of Shout, and detractors will probably want to burn it at the stake....more
I read these as a preteen & fell totally in love with Jame Herriot's voice and storytelling. I was already in love with farm animals at that point, soI read these as a preteen & fell totally in love with Jame Herriot's voice and storytelling. I was already in love with farm animals at that point, so it wasn't a great leap. Where else could I turn after all those Black Stallion books?
These were my first forays into reading memoir.
Also, I had a huge crush on James's cousin Tristan. To this day I'm fond of that name....more
This beautifully composed book stands out not just because of the subject, and the author's sensitive, inquisitive, analytical, and sympathetic reviewThis beautifully composed book stands out not just because of the subject, and the author's sensitive, inquisitive, analytical, and sympathetic review of her life, but also because Febos is careful not to skip the stories beneath the story. She talks about truth/lying, doesn't gloss over or over-dramatize her struggle with addiction, takes us through her family's reaction to her job (carefully, it seems; I got the feeling that Febos was trying to permit her family as much privacy as possible without excluding them) and takes readers back to her child-self to consider how her early personality may have influenced to participate in sex-work.
The big shock to me re: Febos's dominatrix work wasn't confusion or conflict around sexuality and power dynamics, but how sad I felt for her clients, especially those men who seemed trapped in grotesque, cyclical abuse fantasies. I kept thinking: is this the best we've got as a society --secretive, base, unending subjugation, wrapped up in shiny dressing? What does this say about the options available to men? It's easy to understand the men who hired Febos to be perpetrators who help create and sustain unhealthy relational patterns and promote systematic abuse, but they also seemed incredibly hopeless.
Object and subject aside, I'd like to come back to just how interesting and funny this autobiography is. SO many great quotes! My favorite:
"Most of the time, my lifestyle felt like a choice I had made, because I was smarter, more complicated, terminally unique. But not always, and in those other moments when it felt like a bondage to something I didn't believe in I was choked with envy."
The one thing that Febos didn't get into that I wondered about was race. She mentions her Puerto Rican grandmother, but says nothing about her own identity and how that may/may not have played out in her experience as a dom. Yes, can't fit EVERYTHING in just one book, but I'd be interested to hear her speak on it.
Pretty sure I read this in high school, when I was reading athlete bios like they were going out of style. However, I can't really remember . . . Pretty sure I read this in high school, when I was reading athlete bios like they were going out of style. However, I can't really remember . . . ...more
I saved this book for a while because I knew I'd love it & didn't want to consume it too quickly.
I've been following Jacqueline Woodson's career sinceI saved this book for a while because I knew I'd love it & didn't want to consume it too quickly.
I've been following Jacqueline Woodson's career since I first shelved her books in the children's department at Neptune Public Library and finally, drawn in by the Leo & Diane Dillon-illustrated covers, took one home. Even back then I was careful about how often I read her work, treating them like the special candies in the box.
I break my rule against reading books in verse for Woodson. What's precious or opaque in other novels is straightforward, honest, simple, loving, and bittersweet in hers. She makes it look easy.
Brown Girl Dreaming is the crown on Woodson's collection of un-rushed, thoughtful, funny and poignant pictures of the contemporary young African-American experience. One of those books that's so acutely specific it becomes general, where a single life represents ALL the lives, but without overindulgence or pretense. The poems don't seem like poems, exactly -they're explanations or pictures or late-summer, cicada-backed conversation with an old friend on the porch.
I expect to return to this book. For now, my favorite entries in the journal of that girl's life: gunnar's children -p 50; sometimes, no words are needed -p 131, writing #1 -p 217, music p-262.
This first book of collected stories shows its freshness but is worth the read. It's particularly interesting to have read it after reading Kim's two,This first book of collected stories shows its freshness but is worth the read. It's particularly interesting to have read it after reading Kim's two, more recently published Tune graphic novels. You can definitely see how Kim matures in both his illustrative style and story-building. The poop and sexual frustration jokes, however, remain. I forgive the frequency of them because Kim continues to exhibit a sensitivity towards the more complicated, emotional inner-lives of young men, and I appreciate the window into Korean-American's lives....more
I read this book probably the year it was released, such a fan I was of David Carradine and the TV series Kung Fu back in my high school days. I'm notI read this book probably the year it was released, such a fan I was of David Carradine and the TV series Kung Fu back in my high school days. I'm not sure what I'd think of the book if I read it now, as an adult. I suspect it doesn't really matter; childhood idols remain forever as they were if you are careful not to examine them too closely for the faults and idiosyncratic attributes we all have. That said, there's a scene in this book involving DC, a cow, and an electric fence that may remain with me always! :-) ...more
High marks for this food autobiography: charming, funny, honest, sweet, thoughtful, and extra points for the author's gentle treatment of her parents.High marks for this food autobiography: charming, funny, honest, sweet, thoughtful, and extra points for the author's gentle treatment of her parents. New to the graphic novel form, try this one. And then check out the author photo on the back cover and exclaim at just how (adorably) much she resembles her illustrations. ...more
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