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Wednesday Reading Meme
May. 17th, 2023 07:30 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Margo Jefferson’s Negroland is a memoir, mostly focused on her childhood among the Black middle class in 1950s and 60s Chicago (Jefferson was born in 1947), and the way that the Black Power movement and the feminist movement collided with the exhortations of her childhood to be always well-turned-out and courteous and to rise above racism by her manners and her excellence (which must be obvious without ever seeming show-offy).
Fascinating. Beautifully written, lots of lively and unexpected anecdotes. There’s one scene where a teenaged Jefferson is reading James Baldwin, really vibing, she’s always loved literature but here at last she feels like an insider - and then she’s reading Baldwin’s essay about Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in which he derides the book by comparing it to Little Women, one of young Jefferson’s very favorites. Not an insider here, either.
(Of special interest to some of you: there’s a longer discussion of Little Women near the end of the book, specifically focused on identity-formation as mediated through Little Women characters.)
Also Worrals Investigates. This is the final book in the Worrals series, but I’m glad I didn’t read it last, as it’s not one of the stronger books. The mystery is a bit silly and the pacing slack.
However, fans of Worrals and Frecks (and Worrals/Frecks) will be delighted ( spoilers )
Finally, my Newbery book this week is Mari Sandoz’s The Horsecatcher, about a Cheyenne boy in the 1830s who decides to be a horsecatcher rather than a warrior. Really enjoyed this one! I don’t know enough about the Cheyenne to know if it’s accurate, but it feels cohesive and immersive. Also, unlike most of the other 1950s Newbery books with Indian themes, this one is not about white/Indian culture clash, but firmly planted in the Cheyenne setting. There are white people in the picture, but over there somewhere, useful purveyors of calico and gunpowder but not yet encroaching in a way that has had much impact on the traditional Cheyenne worldview.
What I’m Reading Now
Inspired by Negroland, I’m finally tackling Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, which is about the Great Migration of African-Americans from the Jim Crow South to the North and West from 1915-1970. Right now I’m still in the pre-migration Jim Crow South section and you will be shocked to hear that it’s a real bummer.
What I Plan to Read Next
I am trying to plan ahead a bit less, actually. Follow where the whim leads me!
Margo Jefferson’s Negroland is a memoir, mostly focused on her childhood among the Black middle class in 1950s and 60s Chicago (Jefferson was born in 1947), and the way that the Black Power movement and the feminist movement collided with the exhortations of her childhood to be always well-turned-out and courteous and to rise above racism by her manners and her excellence (which must be obvious without ever seeming show-offy).
Fascinating. Beautifully written, lots of lively and unexpected anecdotes. There’s one scene where a teenaged Jefferson is reading James Baldwin, really vibing, she’s always loved literature but here at last she feels like an insider - and then she’s reading Baldwin’s essay about Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in which he derides the book by comparing it to Little Women, one of young Jefferson’s very favorites. Not an insider here, either.
(Of special interest to some of you: there’s a longer discussion of Little Women near the end of the book, specifically focused on identity-formation as mediated through Little Women characters.)
Also Worrals Investigates. This is the final book in the Worrals series, but I’m glad I didn’t read it last, as it’s not one of the stronger books. The mystery is a bit silly and the pacing slack.
However, fans of Worrals and Frecks (and Worrals/Frecks) will be delighted ( spoilers )
Finally, my Newbery book this week is Mari Sandoz’s The Horsecatcher, about a Cheyenne boy in the 1830s who decides to be a horsecatcher rather than a warrior. Really enjoyed this one! I don’t know enough about the Cheyenne to know if it’s accurate, but it feels cohesive and immersive. Also, unlike most of the other 1950s Newbery books with Indian themes, this one is not about white/Indian culture clash, but firmly planted in the Cheyenne setting. There are white people in the picture, but over there somewhere, useful purveyors of calico and gunpowder but not yet encroaching in a way that has had much impact on the traditional Cheyenne worldview.
What I’m Reading Now
Inspired by Negroland, I’m finally tackling Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, which is about the Great Migration of African-Americans from the Jim Crow South to the North and West from 1915-1970. Right now I’m still in the pre-migration Jim Crow South section and you will be shocked to hear that it’s a real bummer.
What I Plan to Read Next
I am trying to plan ahead a bit less, actually. Follow where the whim leads me!
