What are you reading the week of May 7, 2016?
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1fredbacon
Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles; they are perhaps his most popular works.
Mosley was born in California. His mother, Ella (née Slatkin), was Jewish and worked as a personnel clerk; her ancestors had immigrated from Russia. His father, Leroy Mosley (1924-1993), was an African American from Louisiana who was a supervising custodian at a Los Angeles public school. He had worked as a clerk in the segregated US army during the Second World War. His parents tried to marry in 1951 but, though the union was legal in California where they were living, no one would give them a marriage license.
He was an only child, and ascribes his writing imagination to "an emptiness in my childhood that I filled up with fantasies". For $9.50 a week, Walter Mosley attended the Victory Baptist day school, a private African-American elementary school that held pioneering classes in black history. When he was 12, his parents moved from South Central to more comfortably affluent, working-class west LA. He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in 1970. Mosley describes his father as a deep thinker and storyteller, a "black Socrates". His mother encouraged him to read European classics from Dickens and Zola to Camus. He also loves Langston Hughes and Gabriel García Márquez. He was largely raised in a non-political family culture, although there were racial conflicts flaring throughout L.A. at the time. He later became more highly politicised and outspoken about racial inequalities in the US, which are a context of much of his fiction.
He went through a "long-haired hippie" phase, drifting around Santa Cruz and Europe. Mosley dropped out of Goddard College, a liberal arts college in Plainfield, Vermont and then earned a political science degree at Johnson State College. Abandoning a doctorate in political theory, he started work programming computers. He moved to New York in 1981 and met the dancer and choreographer Joy Kellman, whom he married in 1987. They separated 10 years later and were divorced in 2001. While working for Mobil Oil Mosley took a writing course at City College in Harlem after being inspired by Alice Walker's book, The Color Purple. One of his tutors there, Edna O'Brien, became a mentor to him and encouraged him, saying: "you're Black, Jewish, with a poor upbringing; there are riches therein."
Mosley still resides in New York City.
Mosley says that he identifies as both African-American and Jewish, with strong feelings for both groups.
Mosley started writing at 34 and has written every day since, penning more than forty books and often publishing two books a year. He has written in a variety of fiction categories, including mystery and afrofuturist science fiction, as well as non-fiction politics. His work has been translated into 21 languages. His direct inspirations include the detective fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler. Mosley's fame increased in 1992 when then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton, a fan of murder mysteries, named Mosley as one of his favorite authors. Mosley made publishing history in 1997 by foregoing an advance to give the manuscript of Gone Fishin' to a small, independent publisher, Black Classic Press in Baltimore, run by former Black Panther Paul Coates.
His first published book, Devil in a Blue Dress, was the basis of a 1995 movie starring Denzel Washington. The world premiere of his first play, The Fall of Heaven was staged at the Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati, Ohio, in January, 2010.
Mosley has served on the board of directors of the National Book Awards.
Mosley is on the board of the TransAfrica Forum.
In 2010, there was a debate in academic literary circles as to whether Mosley's work should be considered Jewish literature. Similar debate has occurred as to whether he should be described as a black author, given his status as a best-selling writer. Mosley has said that he prefers to be called a novelist. He explains his desire to write about "black male heroes" saying "hardly anybody in America has written about black male heroes... There are black male protagonists and black male supporting characters, but nobody else writes about black male heroes.”
Mosley was born in California. His mother, Ella (née Slatkin), was Jewish and worked as a personnel clerk; her ancestors had immigrated from Russia. His father, Leroy Mosley (1924-1993), was an African American from Louisiana who was a supervising custodian at a Los Angeles public school. He had worked as a clerk in the segregated US army during the Second World War. His parents tried to marry in 1951 but, though the union was legal in California where they were living, no one would give them a marriage license.
He was an only child, and ascribes his writing imagination to "an emptiness in my childhood that I filled up with fantasies". For $9.50 a week, Walter Mosley attended the Victory Baptist day school, a private African-American elementary school that held pioneering classes in black history. When he was 12, his parents moved from South Central to more comfortably affluent, working-class west LA. He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in 1970. Mosley describes his father as a deep thinker and storyteller, a "black Socrates". His mother encouraged him to read European classics from Dickens and Zola to Camus. He also loves Langston Hughes and Gabriel García Márquez. He was largely raised in a non-political family culture, although there were racial conflicts flaring throughout L.A. at the time. He later became more highly politicised and outspoken about racial inequalities in the US, which are a context of much of his fiction.
He went through a "long-haired hippie" phase, drifting around Santa Cruz and Europe. Mosley dropped out of Goddard College, a liberal arts college in Plainfield, Vermont and then earned a political science degree at Johnson State College. Abandoning a doctorate in political theory, he started work programming computers. He moved to New York in 1981 and met the dancer and choreographer Joy Kellman, whom he married in 1987. They separated 10 years later and were divorced in 2001. While working for Mobil Oil Mosley took a writing course at City College in Harlem after being inspired by Alice Walker's book, The Color Purple. One of his tutors there, Edna O'Brien, became a mentor to him and encouraged him, saying: "you're Black, Jewish, with a poor upbringing; there are riches therein."
Mosley still resides in New York City.
Mosley says that he identifies as both African-American and Jewish, with strong feelings for both groups.
Mosley started writing at 34 and has written every day since, penning more than forty books and often publishing two books a year. He has written in a variety of fiction categories, including mystery and afrofuturist science fiction, as well as non-fiction politics. His work has been translated into 21 languages. His direct inspirations include the detective fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler. Mosley's fame increased in 1992 when then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton, a fan of murder mysteries, named Mosley as one of his favorite authors. Mosley made publishing history in 1997 by foregoing an advance to give the manuscript of Gone Fishin' to a small, independent publisher, Black Classic Press in Baltimore, run by former Black Panther Paul Coates.
His first published book, Devil in a Blue Dress, was the basis of a 1995 movie starring Denzel Washington. The world premiere of his first play, The Fall of Heaven was staged at the Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati, Ohio, in January, 2010.
Mosley has served on the board of directors of the National Book Awards.
Mosley is on the board of the TransAfrica Forum.
In 2010, there was a debate in academic literary circles as to whether Mosley's work should be considered Jewish literature. Similar debate has occurred as to whether he should be described as a black author, given his status as a best-selling writer. Mosley has said that he prefers to be called a novelist. He explains his desire to write about "black male heroes" saying "hardly anybody in America has written about black male heroes... There are black male protagonists and black male supporting characters, but nobody else writes about black male heroes.”
2fredbacon
I'm just about to finish The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich. It's been a fast read without much depth, but the subject is somewhat interesting. There are basically three stories here. There are intertwined biographies of Robert Kempner, a Jewish German police official forced to flee Germany, and Alfred Rosenberg, a confidant of Adolf Hitler and all around creep.
Kempner served as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crime trials where he prosecuted Rosenberg. Part of the evidence he used to build his case was the 500 page diary of Rosenberg. After the trials, Kempner got permission to take the diary and other evidence to use as research material for a book. There were two problems. The person who authorized Kempner's removal of the documents didn't have the authority to give him permission. Second, Kempner never wrote the book or returned the documents. In essence, the diary (an important record of the inner workings of the Nazi regime) vanished from the public record.
The third aspect of the story (which begins the book) is the search for the missing diary and its recovery by an archivist at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and a former FBI agent.
Sadly, this isn't a translation of the actual diary. The Devil's Diary does quote from and is informed by the diary, but there's no published version available yet.
Kempner served as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crime trials where he prosecuted Rosenberg. Part of the evidence he used to build his case was the 500 page diary of Rosenberg. After the trials, Kempner got permission to take the diary and other evidence to use as research material for a book. There were two problems. The person who authorized Kempner's removal of the documents didn't have the authority to give him permission. Second, Kempner never wrote the book or returned the documents. In essence, the diary (an important record of the inner workings of the Nazi regime) vanished from the public record.
The third aspect of the story (which begins the book) is the search for the missing diary and its recovery by an archivist at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and a former FBI agent.
Sadly, this isn't a translation of the actual diary. The Devil's Diary does quote from and is informed by the diary, but there's no published version available yet.
3cappybear
I began to read Slaughterhouse 5 for the reading group last week. I'd wanted to read the book for some time and bought a cheap second-hand copy only last year. It has its moments, particularly when the narrative goes back to the Second World War; but on the whole the book feels very much of its time, all very with-it and swinging sixties; and I do find the author rather aware of himself. I'll finish Slaughterhouse 5 as it's only a little book, but so far it's been a disappointment.
Perhaps it was a mistake to read Vonnegut alongside Robert Graves's altogether more sober Goodbye to All That, which I much prefer. I should finish both books soon.
2> What a coincidence, fredbacon - a friend texted me this afternoon about a review of The Devil's Diary in today's newspaper.
Perhaps it was a mistake to read Vonnegut alongside Robert Graves's altogether more sober Goodbye to All That, which I much prefer. I should finish both books soon.
2> What a coincidence, fredbacon - a friend texted me this afternoon about a review of The Devil's Diary in today's newspaper.
4princessgarnet
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (paperback, copyright 2001)
5seitherin
Finished Academic Exercises by K. J. Parker. Mostly liked it.
Next up is Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss.
Next up is Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss.
6mollygrace
>1 fredbacon: Another favorite of mine -- I love his Easy Rawlins mysteries. Thanks for the work you do to get us off to a good start on the week, fredbacon.
In addition to whatever book I'm reading at the time (right now it's Alan Furst's Night Soldiers), I have a small stack of books from which I read a bit every day (an essay, a story, a poem, a chapter). I refer to them as my "morning readings", but sometimes it's evening before I get to them. Thus, it takes me a long time to actually finish them. One book of correspondence took me over three years at a pace of one or two letters per day, but for me it was the perfect pace for that particular book. Each letter needed to be savored. What There is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell.
Right now the books in the stack are:
Emerson: The Mind on Fire by Robert D. Richardson
Alive Together: New and Selected Poems by Lisel Mueller
Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
I'm also on the lookout for a book of short stories or essays to add to the stack, but there's no hurry: it will come to me in time and I'll know it when I see it -- it seems to work best that way.
In addition to whatever book I'm reading at the time (right now it's Alan Furst's Night Soldiers), I have a small stack of books from which I read a bit every day (an essay, a story, a poem, a chapter). I refer to them as my "morning readings", but sometimes it's evening before I get to them. Thus, it takes me a long time to actually finish them. One book of correspondence took me over three years at a pace of one or two letters per day, but for me it was the perfect pace for that particular book. Each letter needed to be savored. What There is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell.
Right now the books in the stack are:
Emerson: The Mind on Fire by Robert D. Richardson
Alive Together: New and Selected Poems by Lisel Mueller
Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
I'm also on the lookout for a book of short stories or essays to add to the stack, but there's no hurry: it will come to me in time and I'll know it when I see it -- it seems to work best that way.
7rocketjk
>6 mollygrace: I have stacks like that, too, but I get to them between the books I read straight through, rather than daily, so I call them my "between books."
I'm barreling through and very much enjoying The Quiet Game by Greg Iles.
I'm barreling through and very much enjoying The Quiet Game by Greg Iles.
9flips
Reading The Signature of all things by Elizabeth Gilbert.
10fredbacon
3> Hmm, to correct something that I said in my earlier post, it seems that Rosenberg's diary has been translated into English and published. It's called The Political Diary of Alfred Rosenberg and the Onset of the Holocaust. So I've added it to my wish list. It certainly won't be a widely read book (only one "user" at LT currently has a copy--the History Faculty Library at Bodleian), but I do love primary sources.
I did finish The Devil's Diary yesterday. It's a good book, but I would recommend trying to find it at a library. It's not really significant enough to permanently occupy space in my home. There is simply not enough room! I'll probably drop mine off at a used book store in the near future.
6> The hard part is to find interesting writers with bios that are in a sweet spot for length. I have to bypass a lot of really good writers because their pages at Wikipedia are too short. This is particularly true for new authors. I choose to skip more famous authors because their bios are too long. I would have to cut their page to around a thousand words, and doing that while retaining any sort of coherence is a lot of work.
I try looking for writers that are mentioned here frequently or are somehow "in the news" on my Google feed. While I'm fairly well read, I tend to go for nonfiction on esoteric topics. My own library is a poor source for author names. No one is going to recognize some obscure historian from the US Army War College.
I tend to read deeply on a subject rather than broadly. And yet I never feel that I adequately understand those subjects well enough to have informed opinions. When someone spouts off about a subject with which I'm familiar, I may mull over their comments for some time before I decide if their ideas are valid.
After reading At the Existentialist Cafe the other week, I went out and picked up copies of Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea and Simone De Beauvoir's The Mandarins. I started Nausea last night. (I also find it amusing that the spell checker in my browser can tell me when I've misspelled her name. It also complains if I don't capitalize Wikipedia.)
I did finish The Devil's Diary yesterday. It's a good book, but I would recommend trying to find it at a library. It's not really significant enough to permanently occupy space in my home. There is simply not enough room! I'll probably drop mine off at a used book store in the near future.
6> The hard part is to find interesting writers with bios that are in a sweet spot for length. I have to bypass a lot of really good writers because their pages at Wikipedia are too short. This is particularly true for new authors. I choose to skip more famous authors because their bios are too long. I would have to cut their page to around a thousand words, and doing that while retaining any sort of coherence is a lot of work.
I try looking for writers that are mentioned here frequently or are somehow "in the news" on my Google feed. While I'm fairly well read, I tend to go for nonfiction on esoteric topics. My own library is a poor source for author names. No one is going to recognize some obscure historian from the US Army War College.
I tend to read deeply on a subject rather than broadly. And yet I never feel that I adequately understand those subjects well enough to have informed opinions. When someone spouts off about a subject with which I'm familiar, I may mull over their comments for some time before I decide if their ideas are valid.
After reading At the Existentialist Cafe the other week, I went out and picked up copies of Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea and Simone De Beauvoir's The Mandarins. I started Nausea last night. (I also find it amusing that the spell checker in my browser can tell me when I've misspelled her name. It also complains if I don't capitalize Wikipedia.)
11TooBusyReading
>1 fredbacon:, thank you for the start again. I've read only a couple of Mosley's books but enjoyed them and want to read more of his works.
I'm almost finished listening to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, and I'm loving it. Lots of food for thought in it.
I'm a bit bogged down in the popular The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It's just not grabbing me like I'd hoped, and I keep finding other things to do rather than reading it, not a good sign. But lots of people seem to enjoy it.
I'm almost finished listening to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, and I'm loving it. Lots of food for thought in it.
I'm a bit bogged down in the popular The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It's just not grabbing me like I'd hoped, and I keep finding other things to do rather than reading it, not a good sign. But lots of people seem to enjoy it.
12seitherin
Finished The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan. One of those series where no one of consequence really dies and the good guys are all rewarded in some way. Overall, meh.
Started Beginning Operations by James White.
Started Beginning Operations by James White.
13sebago
Godpretty in the Tobacco Field by Kim Michele Richardson. Ordered this per the recommendation of another author I love. It seems similar to The Secret Life of Bees. Will review when I have finished it. :)
14framboise
Finished Becoming Nicole this morning and downloaded The Things We Keep which I have not yet started.
15alphaorder
Finished Tuesday Nights in 1980. It was quite a ride!
Looking for a short book in paper for my next read. I will be traveling from Milwaukee to Chicago this week, so I need something for the train. The purpose of my trip, however, is Book Expo America (BEA), so I don't want to lug a big book, as I am certain to be bringing a number of books back with me!
Looking for a short book in paper for my next read. I will be traveling from Milwaukee to Chicago this week, so I need something for the train. The purpose of my trip, however, is Book Expo America (BEA), so I don't want to lug a big book, as I am certain to be bringing a number of books back with me!
16jnwelch
Thanks, Fred. I'm a big fan of Walter Mosley's books. I had no idea of the Jewish component in his background. He certainly has created a lot of black hero characters. Probably my favorite book of his is Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, featuring former prisoner and philosopher Socrates Fortlow. Interesting that Mosley describes his father as "a black Socrates".
I'm currently reading Salt to the Sea and Dancing at the Rascal Fair.
I'm currently reading Salt to the Sea and Dancing at the Rascal Fair.
17hemlokgang
Dropped Five Spice Street about a third of the way through. Started out wonderfully, then lost me.
Next up is The Zafarani Files by Gamal al-Ghitani.
Next up is The Zafarani Files by Gamal al-Ghitani.
18cdyankeefan
#15 hi alphaorder- I read Tuesday night too and it was quite good- have a great time at the BEA!
19hemlokgang
Finished the poignantly profound When Breath Becomes Air.
Next up for listening is Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead.
Next up for listening is Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead.
20AmyGraves
>8 hemlokgang: What was the story about? I'm from New England so I'm always curious when it's from my area of the world.
21hemlokgang
>19 hemlokgang: AmyGraves....The narrator is a grandmother, telling her granddaughter about growing up in Boston. She is a Jewish girl with an overbearing mother and passive father, who is smart and wants more than to be pushed into an arranged marriage. She wants to work, and manages to find her way into interesting work, with fascinating people. The story is set roughly 1920ish to 1990s? Don't recall for sure.
22snash
Finished my LTER. Rogue Justice: the Making of the Security State is a blow by blow, person by person, case by case accounting of the on going conflict between security and constitutional rights after 9/11. What particularly impressed me was how readable it was despite its detail and thoroughness. It is a disturbing story and an extremely important one for American citizens to be aware of, hopefully to prevent the erosion of American and international rights.
23nrmay
I'm just started The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie King
24CarolynSchroeder
I just finished On the Shores of Darkness, There is Light by Cordelia Strube and loved it.
I am now about 50 pages into the fascinating and unusual Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings.
I am now about 50 pages into the fascinating and unusual Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings.
25ahef1963
I've just finished reading The Broken Shore by Australian crime novelist Peter Temple. He writes well, and has an extraordinary grasp on metaphor, but I feel the story felt short, either that or I missed something important somewhere along the way.
Am now re-reading the delightful The Rosie Project because I have just borrowed The Rosie Effect from the library and needed a refresher. It is so much fun. If its sequel is as good I will buy a copy for myself.
Am now re-reading the delightful The Rosie Project because I have just borrowed The Rosie Effect from the library and needed a refresher. It is so much fun. If its sequel is as good I will buy a copy for myself.
26PaperbackPirate
I'm trying to finish up my Early Reviewer, Running with Rhinos: Stories from a Radical Conservationist by Ed Warner. It's mostly been a disappointment. There is hardly anything about rhinos. One of the stories is about how the author accidentally overpaid $8 at a grocery store. True story.
27cappybear
Finished Goodbye to All That and Slaughterhouse 5 yesterday. Now reading Jeff Buckley's Grace by Daphne A. Brooks.
Next on the list - Tess of the d'Urbervilles, probably.
Next on the list - Tess of the d'Urbervilles, probably.
28framboise
Started When Breath Becomes Air this morning and am halfway through already.
29mollygrace
I finished my reread of Alan Furst's Night Soldiers - good, good book - and now I'm reading Nightwood by Djuna Barnes. I'm also reading The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield.
31jnwelch
I'm still reading Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and I'll be starting A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler.
Oops. I'll repost on the new thread.
Oops. I'll repost on the new thread.
32sebago
The Sound of Glass - I love Karen White but admit I bought this book because I loved the cover.. sigh... Sea Glass... I love Sea Glass. Mermaids Tears...
33ahef1963
Reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and loving it very much. What powerful language!
34framboise
>33 ahef1963: I loved Rebecca too when I first read it. I was absorbed in it till I finished it.
Have been reading The Things We Keep but am ambivalent about it. Probably will quit it.
Have been reading The Things We Keep but am ambivalent about it. Probably will quit it.
