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I just recently completed Toni Morrison’s latest book “Home”, a novel I have been looking forward to reading because its advance notices promoted it as being set in the 1950s, an era I could relate to. Since many of Morrison’s novels take place way back in the day, I was glad she had chosen to write about what was, to me, a more recent period in history. I was curious about how Ms Morrison would portray the 1950s which have been referred to as not only a bland and innocent time populated by the “silent generation“, but also the decade that was ripe for the civil rights movement it spawned. I anticipated she would write about a passive race of people, done with being patient, spurred into protest by dynamic leaders like Martin Luther King, and inspirational ones like Rosa Parks, and martyrs like Emmet Till, all played out against a backdrop of doo-wop music and Amos ‘N Andy TV and Dorothy Dandridge celebrity. The ‘50s I knew. Silly me. I should’ve realized that Toni Morrison would never stoop to such mundane predictability. With Toni it’s never easy. And “Home” is vintage Morrison. So, before long, through the vividness of her prose fraught with its extraordinary metaphors, and the wretched poignancy of her characters, I was beyond reading this book; I was experiencing it. In my imagination I was there, immersed in a version of life in the 50s that was diametrically opposed to the one I led back then as a young black woman residing in a small integrated suburb of Chicago. Crouched in the unforgiving frozen terrain of Korea, killing to keep from being killed while dodging bullets, I was there with the book's protagonist, Frank Money, as he witnessed the horrible deaths of the homeboys with whom he had enlisted in the Army, hoping to escape the dead-end drudgery that was their fate as black youth bogged down in the dusty little rural town of Lotus, Georgia. There, following Frank through the post traumatic stress that plagues him as a shell-shocked war veteran, wandering the dangerous streets of northern cities, working his way through despair with whiskey and the fleeting love of Lilly, a comely, ambitious woman not content to be his ongoing caregiver. There, listening to the frenetic be-bop music in a smoky little night club, visited between trains on his way back to rescue his gullible younger sister, “Cee”, who has been victimized and sterilized by a mad professor of eugenics. And, in the end, there, back in the confines of a hapless little town that modernization forgot, and slavery remembered. Yet a place that is also a welcoming haven not lacking in the homespun warmth and time-worn wisdom embodied by its black inhabitants, common folk of varying degrees of good and evil who, through the worst of conditions have endured, blissful in their ignorance, secure in their belief that “be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home”. As the book draws to its close I was also there, witnessing a reappearing zoot-suited phantom who like the style he sported, comes and finally goes with a smile on his face, signalling that "all's well, that ends well". At 145 pages, “Home” is a short intense novel, something which always earns points with me, and a satisfactory read for those who are up to the challenge of spinning straw into gold. Finally, because it is what it is, I have no choice but to give this good thing that came in a small package, 4 stars. * * * *

Okay...okay...I'm feeling some kind of way and I need to confess. I dug up the book The Coldest Winter Ever, and I started reading it tonight. And I couldn't get past the first chapter. I tried. I really wanted to finish it if for no other reason than that I said I would. But I guess some things do change. Back in the day, this book grabbed my interest right from the moment Winter describes her own birth...and now... Well, I'll just say that once I realized that I don't really have to read it again, I opted not to. Moving on. This was truly an unexpected experience (or maybe I should say non-experience). For those who love the book, I can relate because I once loved it too, even if not enough to dive into heavy discussions about it. I guess the things that annoy me now weren't factors that I noticed when I was twenty. It hardly seems fair to say that something "annoys" me about this book, seeing as how I didn't make it out of the first chapter. Nevertheless, there were very specific things that jumped out at me immediately and caused distractions to the point where I put the book down. For example, the tense switch-ups really threw me off early on. I couldn't tell if the author was doing that on purpose or if there were editing issues. Further, Winter, the character that I remember so well, seems much more simple-minded now than when I read her story back in the day. She is not likeable enough for me to find out anything else about her. Again - I only made it somewhere in the first chapter. Maybe it gets better. I don't know. I thought about picking up the book that Cynique mentioned (And it Goes Like This), but I decided not to. I never really became a fan of street lit. The Coldest Winter Ever was the only book I've ever read that had a story line involving the drug game (oh, my bad...and White Lines by Tracy Brown was the other one). So two books. That subject matter didn't hold my interest pasts those two books. So I'll take it for what it is. A phase in the life of me. Ah, my twenties. Loved em, but can't say that I miss em. ______________________________PART 2 On a lighter note, I just went to the old thread and read through some of the comments re The Coldest Winter Ever. And guess what? Somebody mentioned a series by Walter Mosley that I'm going to go out and find. The "Socrates Fortlow" books. I'd seen an HBO movie with a Socrates Fortlow. Never knew Walter Mosley wrote the book. Gotta love this site. I've only read one Walter Mosley Book (Devil in a Blue Dress) but I recall that it was pretty good. (Oh there I go again with what I "remembered was good"... ). Anyway, I always get excited when I get a book suggestion that I think I actually just might go out and read - like, immediately.

TRAYVON MARTIN KILLED BY A LUNATIC MURDERER WHO IS HISPANIC HELPED BY GESTAPO POLICE..CHAVIS CARTER HANDCUFFED IN ARKANSAS KILLED BY GESTAPO POLICE..ROBERT CHAMPION BEATING TO DEATH ON A BLACK COLLEGE BAND BUS.,WHERE WAS THE PROTESTING FOR HIM./////PROTESTING FOR THE JENA 6 IN LOUISIANA... THOSE BLACK BOYS ,IF SHOULD HAVE BEEN//WHERE WAS THE CONCERN FOR THE BLACK BOYS BISHOP EDDIE LONG WAS SEXUALLY ROMANCING///WHY IS HE STILL ON THE CHURCH PULPIT../////WHY IS SOME BLACK LIFE VALUED OTHERS OR NOT.///

IN COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, GABRILLE SWAINSON IS MISSING..WAS TAKEN FROM HER BEDROOM WHILE MOTHER WAS WORKING ...SUSPECT ANOTHER BLAC MAN WITH A CRIMINAL RECORD INCLUDING KIDNAPPING AND VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN..THEY FOUND BLOOD ON DUCT TAPE IN HIS HOUSE ,HERS..HER CELL PHONE RECORDS SHOW SHE WAS IN HIS HOUSE...WHEN BLACK CHILDREN ARE MISSING,DOES THE NAACP, BLACK CHURCH AND POLITICIANS GO OUT AND LOOK/NO.......WHY WAS NEWT GINGRICH ON TAVIS SMILEY SHOW, I DID NOT WATCH ..DID NEO KKKK NEWT GINGRICH WEAR A KLAN OUTFIT, DID HE CALLED THE PRESIDENT A TRIBE LEADER OR KENYAN , OR SAY HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE WAS FORGED,THAT IS WHAT THEY THEY THINK,WHITE AND BLACK REPUBLICANS,PRESIDENT OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE WAS FORGED AND HE IS THE ANTI CHRIST... BLACK ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS SHOULD NO LONGER BE GIVEN TO BLACK REPUBLICANS, CONDOLEEZA RICE GOT A NAACP AWARD, ESSENCE HAS GIVEN A AWARD TO A BLACK MAN WHO TALKS LIKE HERMAN CAIN SEVERAL YEARS AGO......///

C-SPAN RE SHOWED RODNEY KING INTERVIEW TODAY... AS HE TALKED ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK RIOT WITHIN-FROM REBELLION TO REDEMPTION, THE INTERVIEWER TALKED ABOUT RACIST WHITE POLICE..THERE WAS A WEST INDIES CELEBRATION IN NEW YORK LAST YEAR.WHITE POLICE WERE HEARD SAYING THERE SHOULD BE A BOMB DROPPED ON THOSE PEOPLE, BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE..THIS CONFIRMS WHAT BLACK PEOPLE THIK WHITE POLICE ARE MEMBERS OF THE ARYAN NATION AND ARE JUST AS VILE AS HITLER AND HIS TROOPS.. COWARD VILE HUMAN TRASH..///

WHAT SHOULD PRESIDENT OBAMA DO IF ISRAEL ATTACKS IRAN//IF ISRAEL ATTACKS IRAN THE U.S. TROOPS WILL BE SENT TO PROTECT PRECIOUS ISRAEL//ISRAEL IS ALMOST AS BAD AS ADOLF HITLER, ISRAEL WANTS TO GENOCIDE THE PALESTINE PEOPLE./I AM SICK ISRAEL,PRESIDENT SEEMS TO FEAR ISRAEL,WHY,, BECAUSE HE NEEDS VOTES FROM THE U.S. CHRISTIANS/WHEN IT COMES TO FAKE CHRISTIANS NERO HAD THE RIGHT IDEA, CHRISTIANS THROWN TO THE LIONS.WHITE AND BLACK FAKE CHRISTIANS////

I can't believe these big city mayors currently making news! Not just content to limit how large a soft drink fast food customers can order in public places, NY mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is advocating that hospitals charge new mothers for the infant formula required should they choose not to breast feed. Puleeze. All of these LaLeche busybodies can't protest enough about bans placed on mothers nursing in public, claiming these mama cats have a right to do so. If this makes onlookers uncomfortable then, tut-tut - or tit-tit in this case. But if a woman decides she doesn't want to fulfill the second step of the ritual/fad that follows showing off her baby bump for a disinterested world to admire, by suffering through 3 months pretending she enjoys shutting up a bawling brat by poking her gnawed nipple in its mouth, she should be able to do this without being intimidated or penalized. There are a lot of extenuating circumstances when it comes to breast-feeding and its benefits ain't all they're cracked up to be because of things that a mother can inadvertantly pass on to her baby. But this doesn't impact on people who want to dictate how others should live their lives. Not to be out done in overstepping his bounds when it comes to public policy Chcago's mayor Rahm Emanuel has sided with the city alderman who doesn't want a Chick-fil-A business opened in his ward because the CEO of this organization doesn't support same sex marriage, preferring the biblical definition of this "holy state" as being a union between a man and a woman. Mayor Emanuel voiced approval of the alderman's objection saying Chick-fil-A's values do not reflect those of the city of Chicago. Get outta here, Rahm. When's the last time you walked through the hazardous homophobic streets of Chicago's black neighborhood? Far be it from me to defend reigious caveats, but I think a merchant has the right to believe what he wants to believe as long as he doesn't discriminate against customers. Jeeze! I went out and looked at the full moon last night, because at my age I won't be witnessing many more of these celestial wonders that have always appealed to my werewolf tendencies. I feel the same way about this unusually hot summer, glad that I have lived long enough to experience what I,as a Leo, have always thought the weather should be like this time of the year. Hot and Sunny; relief supplied by an occasional balmy breeze. I love nature, but the world's inhabitants pollute it. If, all of a sudden, my posts stop, consider that me and Morgan Freeman have slipped "through the worm hole" and have become one with the universe!

CNN NEWS LAST NIGHT, CHAVIS CARTER WAS ARRESTED BY WHITE POLICE..HE WAS WITH 2 WHITE MEN..THE WHITE POLICE LET THE WHITE MEN GO.PUT CHAVIS CARTER IN POLICE CAR HANDCUFFED..POLICE SEARCHED CHAVIS CARTER FOUND NO GUN..CHAVIS CARTER HANDCUFFED IN POLICE CAR,.CHAVIS CARTER FOUND DEAD IN POLICE CAR..ARKANSAS WHITE POLICE SAY CHAVIS CARTER COMMITTED SUICIDE.HOW//HE WAS HANDCUFFED,HE HAD NO GUN, HE WAS IN POLICE CAR HANDCUFFED HOW CAN HE SHOOT HIMSELF HANDCUFFED WITH NO GUN//WHITE POLICE KILLED CHAVIS CARTER NOW LYING ABOUT IT...LAST MONTH IN ARKANSAS..WHERE IS THE BLACK CHURCH,NAACP,AND BLACK POLITICIANS....WHITE POLICE KILLING BLACK MEN HAS INCREASED WITH THE ELECTION OF A BLACK PRESIDENT....LIKE THE GOVERNMENT,U.S. MILITARY NEO NAZI AND KU KLUX KLAN ARE IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENTS..BLACK PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE UP......