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Thumper

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Posts posted by Thumper

  1. Hello All,

    Cynique: *LOL* Cynique, so you are coexisting with skunks, huh? Could it be the company you keep? *meanmugging one board poster in particular* *LOL*

    Troy: EXACTLY!! I told this one friend of mine, who hunts, about the documentary and he started getting excited. I then saw a hunting trip for him down South in his future. My buddy Bob and I were talking and wondering if those hunters were eating the meat, because I, as a non-reformed-better-eating-habit black man, saw nothing but an awful lot of free roaming meat. How much bacon is on a 400-500 lbs hog? How many hamhocks is that? How big would the Christmas ham be, how many would it feed? We would be talking about some serious neckbones and sauerkraut! AND THE CHITLINS?? Let me stop, yawl don't know nothing about that type of food anymore. I'll leave you to your Lean Cuisine frozen dinner.

  2. Hello All,

    Sunday night, I saw a documentary called The Pig Bomb. I tried to post a link but it would not work. I decided to watch it, because yawl know I was thinking about food. Well, it turns out that the US could be on a brink of a diaster due to the population and nature of our feral pig population. It seems this pigs are dangerous. They are getting bigger, faster and becoming a lot more aggressive, so much so that they are attacking people, chasing folks down. I'm watching this totally amazed. All I could kept thinking that if my uncles were alive, it would be ON! Hell, all that meat just running around. The problem is that there is no good way of hunting these pigs because the US have not encountered boars of this nature before. So, they have no clue how to contain and control its population. These pigs are moving. They are not only in the South. So, a wave of feral boars, with bad attitudes, could be in your future.

  3. Hello All,

    Crystal: What a nice little story about the little girl on the bus! *smile* Right now, I'm reading Mosley's The Long Fall and I'm going to follow it up with Known To Evil. I've decided to catch up on a few series this summer. Lately I've been completely mesmerized by the big Barnes and Nobles we now have in Indianapolis. I can only afford to shop in the clearance section, which is huge BTW. I picked up the first two installment of Eric Jerome Dickey's Gideon series, so I'm going to start those next. Then I'm off to the Pharaoh Love books, and finally I'm getting myself mentally prepared to tackle Ralph Ellison's Three Days Before the Shooting cause its a BAB!

  4. Hello all,

    I have been going to the Barnes & Noble super bookstores in Indianapolis, here lately. I love those big ol' bookstores. Anyway, it was there that I saw the displays that To Kill a Mockingbird is 50 years old! I'm going to have to get it. I am crazy about that book. I was thinking about buying my neice Belle a copy. I don't know if its still being read in school or not.

  5. Hello All,

    I've had an E. Lynn Harris weekend. I read his latest book, In My Father's House. It's so-so. There were times when the old sparkle was there and others where I had frustrations from expectations that went unfulfilled. But more on that later.

    When I completed In My Father's House, I picked up Visible Lives, a tribute anthology to Harris by Terrance Dean, James Earl Hardy and Stanley Bennett Clay. So far, so good. I'm about to finish up the second story. It's turning out to be a wonderful tribute. It got me to thinking that no matter how I felt about some of his books, Harris really did change the world through his books. He may not have been the first black gay author to write about black gay characters, Wallace Thurman and James Baldwin comes to mind, but Harris made them popular! His books not only became the talk of the town, they morphed into a whole conversation.

    In the middle of reading Harris' latest, I had a thought, remembering, that I had not read any of the Pharaoh Love mysteries. Don't know who Pharaoh Love is? I'm not surprised. Pharaoh Love is a black gay police detective. Before the internet, I bought most of my books through mail order catalogs. I use to belong to a Mystery book clubs that specialized in mysteries. From that catalog I discovered the Pharaoh Love mysteries with A Queer Kind of Love by George Baxt. Baxt started the Love series back in 1966. I bought A Queer Kind of Love and the last Pharaoh Love mystery, A Queer Kind of Umbrella, but I never read them. I forgot I even had the books, until I reached the middle of In My Father's House. After doing a little research I was able to get a hold of two other installments in the series, there are 5 Love books altogether. I'll be able to start the series from the beginning, or as close to it as I can. I'll let you all know how it goes.

  6. Hello All,

    Troy: I think a great many people would enjoy Glorious. If you are familiar with the Harlem Renaissance and the authors Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen, the main character will be very familiar with the main character. It's an excellent story and it's well told. I can see why Glorious had a time getting published because it's a well written, intelligent, historic novel that is not all about sex, urban violence and all kinds of thugs. It has the potential of becoming a timeless book, the kind of book that will be read long after McFadden's death. I often wonder what these same publishers would have done with Native Son, Invisible Man, or Go Tell It On The Mountain if Wright, Ellison or Baldwin would have came to them today with their manuscript? Now, you know, I'm not a business man, but it seems to me that if I was a publisher, I would publish the flash in the pan trends, but I would also publish books that stood a chance at being read for years, those that are always in print and doesn't go out of print. When the thug trend in AA literature finally runs its course, what's next? I don't know, man, it seems like a couple of people cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

    Although Akashic Books maybe a small publishing company, it has produced some of the finest books I've read in the past few years. For example, Jesus Boy that I've raved so much about this year. Akashic Books have made a believer out of me.

  7. Hello All,

    I am still reading like nobody's business. I had to sneak a couple of books by white authors, gods in Alabama by Joshilynn Jackson (good book) and The Last Child by John Hart (EXCELLENT!!), in because I was moving a little fast. I finished Glorious by Bernice McFadden and the book is perfectly titled because it is glorious! I loved it!

    I just finished J.D. Mason's latest, Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It! I did not care for it! I'm surprised to be saying this about a J.D. Mason book because you all know how much I love her...but I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut her. This book sucks! I'm going to tell you why...Remember me telling you all that when I began reading novels, I cut my teeth on the books my mother read; Sidney Sheldon, Jackie Collins, etc. Sidney Sheldon's The Other Side of Midnight, Bloodline and The Rage of Angels still remain among my favorite books ever. Anyway, around that time a FANTASTIC novel titled Lace by Shirley Conan(sp) came out. I don't know if many of you remember that book, but I do. Mason's latest book, is a poor imitation of Lace. Lace is the story of 4 school girls who are all friends, one of them gets pregnant and they as a group abandon the baby. The book covers their lives as well as the baby. The memorable scene comes after the baby, a daughter, gather them all together and asks, "Which one of you bitches is my mother?" The book was turned into a TV movie and at that time, there was a brief bit of controversy as to if the movie would be allowed to keep that famous line in the movie. I'm just saying, if the book summary of Take Your Pleasure tickles your fancy, do yourself a favor, save yourself the aggravation and check out Lace instead.

  8. Hello All,

    I'm still here. The job is giving me the blues and making it difficult for me to do all of the reading that I want to do. But, I am still going through books, not as fast as I care to. Anyway, this list is going to go fast so pay attention.

    I finished Victor McGlothin's new novel, The Secret of Newberry and was very impressed with it. I had put McGlothin in the U-go-girl group of authors and paid him no mind. After reading the novella compilation he did with J.D. Mason, I decided to give him a try and I'm glad I did. The novel comes out in June so be on the look out for it.

    I read Madison Smartt Bell's Devil's Dream, a novel about the Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. Now this is a book for your nerves! Although I have to admit that if I had known that the book was about a Confederate general, I would not have picked it up. It's an awesome book. I got caught up. I didn't realize that Bell had it going on like that, so I got his Haitian trilogy and am looking forward to getting into it later in the summer.

    I came across a small history book titled Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne by Carole C. Marks. In the title Moses is of course Harriet Tubman, Miss Anne is a woman named Anna Ella Carroll, and the Monster is Patty Cannon. My interest was piqued when I read the summary and learned that Patty Cannon kidnap free blacks and sold them into slavery down South. Yeah, that's evil as all hell. Naturally, I had to find out what's what. It's a good little book.

    I checked out The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow. I can see why this book is getting all of the praises!! It's remarkable!

    Another remarkable book is Powder Necklace by Nana Ekua Bree-Hammond. This novel centers around a 14 years old girl who is shipped to her parents native country of Ghana, where she doesn't speak the language or know the culture because she was raised in London. Then when her trifling mother gets another wild hair up her butt, she sends for the girl, Lila, to come back home. And then when Lila finally gets settled in again, the mama ships her off to New York City to live with her father, who Lila can not remember and only knows through sparadic long distance phone calls. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel. Check it out if you can.

    I most recently finished Black Water Rising by Attica Locke. I wasn't blown away by it! The story would have been fantastic if the editor had taken a pair of shears to it. It's one of those types of mysteries that they call literary mysteries. I usually associate literary mysteries with those of British writers. Those writers still write in the same fashion as Jane Austen or Charles Dickens when letter writing was in vogue and reading was considered high-toned and ranked high as a form of entertainment. Which, in my opinion is another way of making a story boring as all Hell because the author puts everything under the sun in the story. How can I put this...it is evident that Locke studied at the Elizabeth George-Stephen Carter School of Writing!

    I picked up a book at a bookstore $2-$3 Book Sale titled gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. I got it because the summary said that it was about a white woman who committed a murder when she was a teenager back home in Alabama and she made a bargain with God if He let her get away with it. 10 years after leaving home, she figures God broke the bargain when the murdered man's ex-girlfriend is at her door, kneeing her black boyfriend in the crotch. So, she heads back home to Alabama, with her black boyfriend, to visit her crazy ass family and finally get to the bottom of the murder. It's a good read. I had fun with it.

    Now, I'm in the middle of Glorious by Bernice McFadden. Lord, you all don't know how much I love McFadden. I just started Glorious and am halfway through it. If this book finishes as good as it started, I may have to send McFadden a check to help out with her mortgage payment for the month!

  9. Hello All,

    I can't give Okri too hard a time. I know, a very long time ago, I wrote a review in which I was not totally honest. I tried that saying something positive crap and that seemed to be all the author read. Even to this day, I get books by the author and I still can't stand her writing! Yes, that sword can definitely cut both ways.

  10. Hello All,

    OK, the last time I missed a good titled I blamed Cynique. Now, with Black Water Rising by Attica Locke, I'm going to blame Crystal for not telling me about this book. I noticed today that Black Water Rising has been nominated for all of these awards, including the 2010 Edgar Award and I have not seen it mentioned here *eyeballing Crystal* I'm going to have to check it out.

  11. Hello All,

    This morning I finished a WONDERFUL novel called Jesus Boy by Preston L. Allen. The novel is remarkable. It's about a young boy Elwyn, who was raised to be one of the Faithful, a member of the Church of The Blessed Redemeer who Walked Upon the Water. The church's name is a killa ain't it? Elwyn's a piano prodigy, who will start preaching to the unsaved in the streets, in the middle of the school building, wherever. When he turns 16 years old, he begin having an illicit affair with a 42 year old widow. The novel is deep and humurous, funny in some parts because there's truth in it. It's definitely not the standard "I was a ho but now I found Jesus" books.

  12. Hello All,

    Actually, the only one that I am seeing as unhealthy and sickening as all damn Hell is YOU! Get over your damn self! I'm really not trying to hear this sh_t. All I know is this, Gabby, being fat, has reach the top of the entertainment field. Being one of EIGHT AA actresses to have ever been nominate for an Oscar for Best Actress! Which is a hell of a lot more than YOU! *eyebrow raised* And she did it being fat...what's your excuse for not getting there while you'er "healthy" and all. *LOL* Sounds like somebody needs a pork chop sandwich! *LOL*

  13. Whoa on the Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright not being part of the Renaissance thing, though. Didn't know that. They were always bunched together with a bunch of other Renaissance folks in lessons so....My old English teacher needs to get fired. <_<

    By the way, I know this isn't a Renaissance book either, but have you ever read The Spook Who Sat By the Door? The movie for it was very good, but the book is a BEAST.

    Hello All,

    Erzulie: Don't be too hard on your old English teacher. He/She is not the first one or the only one that gets the dates of the Harlem Renaissance wrong. There is a name for the period of AA literature that happened after the Renaissance and before the Black Nationalist Art Movement, which includes Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Ann Petry, Margaret Walker and Chester Himes and others, I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

    I have read The Spook Who Sat By the Door. He reminded me of Quincy Jones for some reason.

  14. I didn't know Bruce wrote a detective novel. He was an associate of early black nationalists like Alexander Crummell, Henry Highland Garnet, and Martin R. Delany -- although they were all old enough to be his father. Bruce and Arthur Schomburg started the Negro Society for Historical Research to showcase black scholarship. The collection they put together eventually formed the basis for the NYPL's Schomburg Center, which has Bruce's papers. They've got to have a copy of Black Sleuth. I'll check it out.

    Thanks, Thumper.

    Hello All,

    Bookfan: I sure the Schomburg has a copy of The Black Sleuth. It was republished only a few years ago. It must still be in print, Amazon.ocm is still selling it. Let me know what you think. It's been years since I've read it. There is also another book title The Conjure Man Dies by Rudolf Fisher. Here, I must admit that I may have made a mistake and got The Conjure Man Dies and The Black Sleuth confused. The Black Sleuth was a serial published for a magazine that folded before the story was completed. The Black Sleuth is regarded as the first mystery featuring a black detective ever published in the US around the 1900s. The Conjure Man Dies is the first written by a Harlem Renaissance author and published during the Renaissance.

  15. Hello All,

    Erzulie: Did you come to the right place. *smile* A few authors to check out:

    1.) Jessie Redmond Fauset - The Chinaberry Tree and Plum Bun. Novels about the hootie tootie bougy black folks.

    2.) Wallace Thurman - Blacker the Berry and Infants of the Spring. Infants of the Spring, if you can get a copy of it, is Thurman's fictionalize account of all of the authors of the Harlem Renaissance.

    3.) Jean Toomer - wrote what many consider the first novel of the Renaissance, Cane. A work that goes from poetry to short stories. Many have said that it is a novel. I don't know. It's kinda deep, but I consider it one of the best work of literature in the past century.

    4.) Richard Bruce Nugent - Most of his works have been recently published during the past few years. Check out The Gay Rebel of the Renaissance.

    5.) John Edward Bruce - The Black Sleuth, which is widely believed to be the first who-dun-it with a black detective ever written.

    6.) Claude McKay - His most famous novel is Home to Harlem and If We Must Die.

    7.) Arna Bonatemps - Black Thunder, a novel and Anyplace But Here, a non-fiction which recounts stories of the Great Migration of black folks from the South to the North.

    8.) Dorothy West - The Living is Easy, which was the only published novel she wrote during the Renaissance. She went on to write The Wedding, which Oprah went and made into a TERRIBLE TV movie starring Halle Berry

    9.) Nella Larsen - She wrote the novels, Quicksand and Passing. Passing has been somewhat of a hit and heavily published during the past 10-12 years now.

    I have to correct you on a few authors that you mentioned in your post. Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright were not part of the Harlem Renaissance. Their works were published later. Richard Wright was highly critical of the authors of the Harlem Renaissance. His battle of words with Zora Neale Hurston is well known.

    I hope I helped.

  16. Hello All,

    I just finished Love, Anger, Madness by Marie Vieux-Clauvet, an excellent, wonderful book! Right now, I'm approaching the middle of One Drop by Bliss Broyard. This one is turning out to be a page turner! It's a true story of how Bliss's father, Anatole Broyard, hid the fact that he had been passing as a white man for the majority of his life. His Children did not know about it until shortly before he died. Bliss is on a mission to find out about the black side of her family. This is an old book, it came out in 2007. The only reason I know about it is that I went to a huge Barnes and Noble and was looking through the clearance section--the only section I buy books in. *big smile* And One Drop was in the clearance pile. So far, it's turning out to be a good read!

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