November 2011 TIOLI: Read a book by a Native American author

November is Native American Heritage Month in the US, and I wanted to honor it by challenging you to read a book written by a Native American author for this month's Take It Or Leave It theme. The book can be a work of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc., and the author can be alive or deceased. Books about Native Americans written by non-Native Americans do not count. Everyone is welcome to participate, including non-75ers and those who aren't TIOLI participants.

I'll begin to list recommended books for this challenge during the remainder of October and in early November, and I would encourage all of you, whether you plan to participate in this challenge or not, to also post books that you would recommend.

Here are a few resources:

Native American Literature - Selected Bibliography (K.L. MacKay, Weber State University)

Native Languages of the Americas: American Indian Literature

The American Book Awards, which "recognize outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community", including Native American writers.

Click here to return to the main TIOLI page for November.

This link will take you to the wiki for this challenge.

I'm planning to read these books for my challenge:

Soul Talk, Song Language: Conversations with Joy Harjo by Joy Harjo and Tanaya Winder: Joy Harjo, from the Mvskoke/Creek Nation, 'is a "poet-healer-philosopher-saxophonist," and one of the most powerful Native American voices of her generation.' This book is a collection of interviews, columns and prose pieces, along with Ms Harjo's own photographs, that span her two decade long career. Tanaya Winder is an as yet unpublished poet from the Duckwater Shoshone and Southern Ute nations.

In Mad Love and War by Joy Harjo: This collection of poems won the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and is based on the people of the Creek Nation and the land they inhabit.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich: The author is a tribal descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and this novel is set in a small town in North Dakota adjacent to an Ojibwe reservation, where the murder of a family leads to vengeance and mistrust between the two communities.

I liked The Plague of Doves very much. We read it for my RL book club and almost everyone else hated it. It's not told in a linear fashion, but still very well done, I thought. The characters are multidimensional, I think that was a problem for some of the readers too.

I'm glad to have a challenge to include something else by Sherman Alexie. He's so funny and heartrending. I just found my copy of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, that'll be a good Thanksgiving related read.

Books about Native Americans written by non-Native Americans do not count. That's a shame, as I've just picked up a copy of Bury my heart at Wounded Knee but I gather the author is not Native American. But I'm sure I'll find a reason to read it anyway!

>4 gennyt: Right, Genny. The author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown, is not a Native American.

I found another resource for Native American authors:

List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas (Wikipedia)

This list includes "people who self-identify as Alaskan Native, American Indian, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Native Hawaiian, and Indigenous Central and South American writers." Any author who appears in this list counts for my challenge.

I was pleased to see that one of the books that I was considering, Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong by Paul Chaat Smith, counts, as the author is from the Comanche tribe (and appears in the Wikipedia list). So, I'll add it to my list of books to read for this challenge.

I have to add my recommendation for A Plague of Doves, I read it recently and loved it.

Since I haven't read any Sherman Alexie yet, I have decided to go with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Woo hoo! I picked up War Dances by Sherman Alexie at the library today.

You're so lucky, Madeline. I wish I'd heard him speak. I'll bet he was wonderful.

He's probably the most hilarious speaker I've ever heard in person. He delivered his lines, with facial expressions to match, just perfectly. Beside being an author, Sherman Alexie is also a stand up comedian.

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog is quite a good book (she omitted from the list).

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a wonderful book. I believe that Alexie reads the audiobook himself, so that might be a good option for people who are fans of his speaking. But then again in an audiobook you would miss the cartoons in the book, which are just great.

This is a great idea for a challenge. I might pick up A Plague of Doves, although I didn't really enjoy the other Louise Erdrich book I read.

> 11

There's also the option of getting both the CD and the hardcover book at the same time - which is exactly what I've done with Alexie's War Dances. I didn't want to wait to order The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian becasue I wanted an Alexie book now! :)

I will read Grootvaders reisdoel by Craig Strete, a translation of When Grandfather yourneys into Winter

#5 - thanks for that list Darryl. I looked to see if there were any Kickapoo authors. I'm part Kickapoo from my maternal grandfather. There weren't any. I'm not surprised. I noticed that one of my favorite poets is missing form the list: Cheryl Savageau. Savageau is an Abenaki poet. I highly recommend her book Mother/Land (Earthworks).

I will be reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It's been sitting on my shelves for years.
If I can find In Mad Love and War I'll add that as well. It sounds interesting.

Darryl, I found this wikipedia link to the tribes of Native America writers. I though it might be fun to list on the wiki the tribe to which each of our chosen authors belongs. What do you think?

I listened to Plague of Doves as an audiobook, and would highly recommend the experience. She seems to have written the book to be read or rather spoken aloud. I also listen to Sherman Alexie reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and was kind of put off my his narration at first. The cadence just didn't seem right to my lily white ears, but the more I listened the more perfect it became. I plan to listen to his kind of science fiction novel Flight, but he doesn't read it, Adam Beach does. That doesn't sound very Native American to me.

I take back what I said about Adam Beach. His inflections as he reads Flight make him sound Native American to me. This is a difficult book, some scenes are horrendous, but I'm glad I listened. Alexie does it again, this time without the humor. It did leave me grabbing for the box of tissues.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was an excellent read. Thanks for this challenge, Daryl.

I've added Little by David Treuer, Leech Lake Ojibwe, to the wiki for this challenge. Book is at the library. No idea if it will arrive before the end of the month.

I read The Grass Dancer by Susan Power for this challenge - my thoughts are here http://www.librarything.com/work/4641/reviews/79636572

It also has a quotation from Joy Harjo's In Mad Love and War, which some people are reading for this challenge, at the start of the book:- Shush, we have too many stories to carry on our backs like houses

>18 DeltaQueen50: from me too. The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian was excellent. Great challenge!

>18 DeltaQueen50:, >21 Athabasca:: me, too! Just finished reading it. I loved this book (The Absolutely True Diary)! I laughed and cried throughout the reading. The book would be an excellent candidate for the 21st's "Recommend a Quick, Good Read," don't you think?!

Karen O.

#22 - It would be a great recommendation, Karen. It's not too long, but even more importantly, once you start it - you can't put it down!

>23 DeltaQueen50:: I KNOW! Once I started, I didn't want to stop. Can't say enough good about it. Now I need to go look up the author's other offerings.

Karen O.

Add me to the list of people who loved The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I'm so glad that I read it!