AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE for 2021 General Discussion

Welcome to the General Discussion thread for this year's American Authors Challenge. This is the 8th year we have done this specialty challenge in the 75 Books Challenge Group, so we have covered a lot of the "Canon" in the past. This year I think we have some exciting newer and lesser-known authors to explore, as well as four Theme Months, in which there is a lot of scope to include old favorites as well. Finally, as usual, feel free to use a Wild Card in any month where the selection isn't your cuppa ale. We're making it really "wild" this year, with no subject or genre suggested---read your own thing, but please share it with the rest of us.

The general thread for 2020 is here, so you can visit the discussion that contributed to this year's selections. This post in that thread contains a full list, year by year, of the authors and themes from the past challenges.

Here is the list for 2021:

JANUARY A Theme Month

All in the Family Spouses, partners, parents and children who all write.
The January thread.

FEBRUARY Ethan Canin
The February thread, for Ethan Canin, is up here.

MARCH Roxane Gay
Here is the March thread, where we will discuss the work of Roxane Gay.

APRIL A Theme Month
Americans Who Make Music Creative minds often use more than one medium to express themselves, and a lot of musicians have written fiction, memoir and poetry. Suggestions will be provided in the April thread, but feel free to throw some out there on this thread in the meantime.
The April thread is up and open.

MAY Mary McCarthy
Here's the thread for Mary McCarthy.


JUNE Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey's here.


JULY A Theme Month
Native American Authors and Themes
Lots of possibilities, both fiction and non-fiction. Please share any suggestions you may have for this theme.
The July thread is up for Native American theme month, featuring history, stories, poetry and drama.

AUGUST Connie Willis
The Connie Willis thread.

SEPTEMBER Howard Norman
The September thread for Howard Norman

OCTOBER Attica Locke
Come tell us what you'll read, or have read, of Attica Locke

NOVEMBER Albert Murray
The November thread for Albert Murray

DECEMBER A Theme Month
Young Adult

Suggestions for specific authors and works welcome. Any favorites in this category?
The December thread is up.

WILD CARD---You name it, you read it.

Looks like a good year - will try to join in!

I'm in. I swear 2021 will be a better reading year for me. I like the four themes. A great idea, Linda.

I like these, Linda and already can see some books I own that will fit well in some of the months. Maybe 2021 will be the year I actually succeed with this challenge! Thanks.

I'll be along for various months again. Thanks for leading us for another year, Linda!

Thanks for organizing this once again! I have TBRs by several of these authors and themes.

Thanks for running this again Linda.

I'll use the Wild Card occasionally to catchup on AAC writers I've missed over the last couple of years, just by not squeezing them in, or not being in the right mood. I've got at least half a dozen in the pile. I'll use it 'as well as' sometimes.

I always get excited and think I'll participate in a challenge like this. I even line up the books. And then I don't do it. Maybe 2021 might be different?

Anyway, you asked for YA suggestions:

I am a big fan of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's work and have bought everything I can find. Any of her stories would be excellent.

I've heard good things about Elizabeth Acevedo's Clap When You Land. I haven't read any novels by Charlie Jane Anders, but this might be a good opportunity to start. Then there's Naomi Kritzer's CatNet books. I've read and enjoyed short stories from both of them. On a completely different note, He Must Like You sounds like a 2021 must-read.

Confession: I lean heavily into speculative fiction as that is my primary genre, and I drew these mostly from http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2020/12/11/best-fiction-for-young-adults-bfya202.... Then there's this award list for ideas: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/morris-award.

Yippee!

I thought you weren't going to do it again and I didn't like to pressure you but I am genuinely chuffed!

Will certainly participate as much as a can.

>8 justchris: Thanks for those suggestions, Chris. I'm very light in the speculative fiction area, so those are particularly welcome. My favs in the YA area are all more of the "vintage" sort.

>9 PaulCranswick: I pondered whether anyone wanted this challenge for the coming year, Paul. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, but that I didn't know if there was enough interest to warrant it. I'm glad to see so many eager to participate this year.

>10 laytonwoman3rd: Yes, much of my reading and recommendations tend to be "vintage" too. So I thought I'd see what kids these days are reading. This is especially pertinent right now as I've been having discussions around Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books, which are beloved classic YA/children's literature for many, but which are also highly problematic. One of my neighbors won't listen to the critiques at all, and another has started reading the books with her kids and then springboarding into a larger discussion around racism and other issues. So sharing and also context. Just today, a friend was telling me about her recent read of Prairie Fires and how it's given her new perspectives and understandings, especially since apparently one of her daughters played a role in the development of libertarianism. So there's a different kind of context for you! And that's just one beloved classic!

>11 justchris: It's tough isn't it but we have to try to judge the book and the author by the standards of their time and not ours. I haven't read The Little House of the Prairie books but I would hope to be as objective as possible if and when I do.

>11 justchris: I'm highly in favor of using those problematic classics as teaching tools for kids. I remember my grandmother reading me the Joel Chandler Harris stories when I had never seen a black person (and I don't think she had either) in life or even on TV (I'm old). She did a fair job of explaining that these were stories from another world and time, but the lessons embedded in them were applicable to me. I don't think I overlaid Uncle Remus on any black person later on, anymore than I expected a grizzly to act like Br'er Bear. But if the discussion never happens, more is lost than just the literature.

>13 laytonwoman3rd: agreed.

The January challenge - Tender is the Night would fit? Fitzgerald did have a spouse who was also a published novelist.

>15 PaulCranswick: That he did. The January thread is going up in a few minutes, and the Fitzgeralds are on my list of suggestions.

ETA: The January thread is now live.

>12 PaulCranswick: Yes, and no. "It/he/she/they was/were a product of the times" is classic apologism though. In *exactly* the same way people say "boys will be boys." Yes, it may be true that we generally expect more and better of people now, but there already were people who did more and better back then too--and they were just as much a product of those times.

People have always known that slavery is immoral: from the earliest written records documenting slavery, they also document that people have argued against that institution from the very beginning. People have always recognized the humanity of other people. Except when self-interest created rationalizations to justify genocide and land clearances and enslavement and forced sterilizations and all the other atrocities we humans get up to.

>13 laytonwoman3rd: Yep, right there with you. Continue to use problematic works, but pair them with similar works without those problematic aspects and/or engage in dialogue/exploration of the issues and problems--whether with kids or adults. Frankly, adults need it just as much as kids when we're tackling beloved childhood classics.

I am by no means advocating for any sort of book banning. I just think that the necessary follow-up tends not to happen at all, despite good intentions much of the time. See Old Time Radio Drama, which I am a big fan of. But stopped listening to because there isn't even a fig leaf of a disclaimer or even *acknowledgment* much less addressing the racism and misogyny in that old programming that continues to be aired weekly. This does tie directly into such modern controversies as removing public statues of problematic people. Without making those problems explicitly part of the public record and maybe even retiring something from the literary canon/public park on account of these problems, how can we and then future generations continue to do better?

In the end, silence is complicity, and without pairing with something better or discussing its context and really exploring the problematic aspects, we contribute to perpetuation of the bigotry embedded in such works. "Being a product of their times" is how people avoid doing that work. It provides a perpetually moving goalpost for any book from any decade to justify why we are not entitled to make judgments or critique it or otherwise threaten someone's beloved author. It is exactly the pushback I got here when I offered the gentlest of criticisms of a Diana Wynne Jones omnibus story that was originally published in 1988, for example (which, for the record, had the most egregious racism I've seen in a fantasy novel since I can't remember when, way worse than Tolkein, say, from the 1950s), which I reviewed in 2009, 20 years later. Is 20 years really so long ago that we shouldn't judge books by more recent standards?? 1000 years, 100 years, 20 years, last year...see how that works?

OK. Maybe I shouldn't be talking about British authors in a thread about American authors :)

>17 justchris: "Maybe I shouldn't be talking about British authors in a thread about American authors" We'll let it go THIS time.... :>)

You make some very good points. When I read older works, it's not that I "make allowances" for the time and place, so much as I try to look at it as representative of a time and place that it may be very important to understand, in order to address issues that still plague us in the 21st century. A lot depends on how the author treats the issues, if you can assess that. In other words, is acceptance and approval implicit in the author's presentation, or do we sense that the author wants us to see something that ought to be different.

>18 laytonwoman3rd: Excellent point! That is exactly the argument made about The Adventures Huckleberry Finn, after all. See, all about nuance!

And yet, I've also seen plenty of arguments for retiring this specific example from school curricula in lieu of something that achieves the same thing without being quite as directly hurtful for the black students in the classroom, especially if the book is taught by reading passages aloud. *Shrug* no one right answer to these complexities. This is what it means to grapple with difficult histories and literatures, I guess.

The January theme is interesting! I can only think of the Andre Dubus father and son right now, but will follow along.

>20 LovingLit: Of course. Hmm, I have some of Pere's essays somewhere...

>20 LovingLit:, >21 Caroline_McElwee: Oh, gosh...I have so many Dubus books on my shelves, how could I have forgotten them! And they should really be included with James Lee and Alafair Burke. There is cousin-ship there. Lots more suggestions on the January thread.

The Kindle edition of Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay is on sale for $2.99. This is an excellent collection of essays that really gives a sense of Gay's writing, thoughts, and topics of interest.

I see February is devoted to Ethan Canin. I first read his work when he published a book of short stories. The Emperor of the Air, that elicited ecstatic review, while he was still in medical school. (Don't you hate these overachieving brats?) I loved that book, and may have a couple more of his works in the library.

>24 ffortsa: - That's great to hear you liked TEotA, Judy, as that's what I plan to read next month!

>24 ffortsa: Thanks for that plug, Judy. I think I'll be reading A Doubter's Almanac in February, as that's what I have on hand. But I'm a little leery of the math involved. I may have to check to see what my library can provide.

I'm planning to read Canin's The Palace Thief in Feb, altho I have America, America as a backup. I should check to see if my library has any of his books available as an ebook. Still working on my Hemingway for January.

I have my Canin ready for next month (flunked this month, but will return to it). Had not heard of Canin before, do like discoveries.

Our March author is Roxane Gay, and I see her excellent essay collection, Bad Feminist, is on sale for Kindle for $2.99. This book made me uncomfortable, made me think, and was one of the most worthwhile reads of the year for me when I read it a few years ago. I still think about certain essays in it.

>29 katiekrug: Thanks for the heads-up, Katie.

Here is the March thread, where we will discuss the work of Roxane Gay.

One of my favorite mystery writers, Margaret Maron, has died at the age of 82. Her two series featuring Judge Deborah Knott and Lieutenant Sigrid Harald were both "tied up" in Maron's final works, Take Out and Long Upon the Land.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced the names of new members elected in 2021.

>34 laytonwoman3rd: - Some familiar names and some not so familiar...

>34 laytonwoman3rd: I'd like to be a fly on the wall at their inaugural dinner. Knowing the talent of those names I'm familiar with, means there will be a rich seam of new creatives to get to know in the others. Thanks for the link Linda.

April thread?

😁

>37 fuzzi: A bit early...do you have something to contribute already? I can put up a shell tomorrow, if you're champing at the bit, but I'm unlikely to get around to a full treatment of the theme until late next week at the soonest.

>38 laytonwoman3rd: that's okay. I like to start adding the new thread to my journal and start looking at possible reads. I can be patient!

>40 fuzzi: LOL! I do love him. And he cannot be denied. The April thread, though not complete is up and open.

ETA: And it's hoppin'!

Philip Roth: The Biography by Blake Bailey will come out this Tuesday. It's being touted as a masterpiece worthy of the man's work itself. An interesting interview with the author was featured on CBS This Morning Saturday today.

I long ago declared myself done with Philip Roth...his work always seemed aimed at Not Me. Like Hemingway, he impressed me with his skill but his stories left me cold. And also like Hemingway, now that he's gone and venerated, he's creeping into my consciousness begging for another chance to be listened to, because his biographer makes such a strong case for the man.

We read Roth in 2014 for the AAC (I think that was the first year of Mark's hosting this challenge). I will consider adding him to the roster again next year, if anyone is interested. (And the creeks don't rise, etc.)

>42 laytonwoman3rd: I'm waiting for the biog to come out in Paperback Linda. I've enjoyed some of his novels, liked others less, and been conflicted about the man. A couple of years before his death I saw a documentary interview with him, by cultural commentator and novelist Kirsty Wark, and he seemed much mellowed and more humane.

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

So...MAY. How did that happen? Here's the thread for Mary McCarthy.

>44 laytonwoman3rd: uh.....link goes to Dolly Parton????

>45 kac522: Sorry...I fixed it. Doing too many things at once. OR....I could say I was checking to see who's paying attention.

This may be of interest Joan Didion:The Art of Storytelling.

Ken Kesey's coming....he was always late for everything, (at least according to Tom Wolfe).

ETA: Follow the link...the thread is now up and ready for your contributions.

The July thread is up for Native American theme month, featuring history, stories, poetry and drama.

The August thread is up a little early, in case anyone may be planning vacation reads. Or going on vacation and not likely to have time to post it next week. *ahem*

Connie Willis

I want to report in on my AAC reads so far.

JANUARY All in the Family A Promised Land by Barack Obama.

FEBRUARY Ethan Canin I started America America and I do intend to finish it.

MARCH Roxane Gay  Sorry; perhaps a spiffy Wild Card for this slot, retroactively.

APRIL Americans Who Make Music How Music Works by David Byrne. One of the best reads of this year.

MAY Mary McCarthy Trouble. I just acquired a copy of The Group, but it's not really calling to me. Maybe a Wild Card, retroactively?

JUNE Ken Kesey Demon Box. I liked most of the pieces collected in this book. My favorite of the books I read in July (just a month late).

JULY Native American Authors and Themes Currently reading The Round House by Louise Erdrich.

AUGUST Connie Willis Blackout and All Clear are in The Green Room, champing.

SEPTEMBER Howard Norman The Bird Artist is booked.

OCTOBER Attica Locke Undecided...Locke or Card?

NOVEMBER Albert Murray Undecided...Murray or Card?

DECEMBER Young Adult Have to see what I have on the shelves.

I have failed miserably this year, worse than normal. I do have a Howard Norman to hand for next month though. And I will get to Kesey by years end.

The September thread for Howard Norman is up. Anyone still looking for something to read for July might find a good choice among Norman's translations and re-tellings of Cree and Inuit tales.

The November thread for the AAC is up, although the intro is not complete. I'll be adding Albert Murray's bio and such tomorrow some time. Meanwhile, please feel free to start posting, if you already have something to say!

EDIT: The introductory post is now complete. Please check him out. I think he will be one of the most interesting authors we've explored this year.

And now it's time to talk about next year. First, how much interest IS there in continuing the AAC into 2022? I always want to ask, and not just assume.

Second, if we do it again, do we like the theme months? Do we want to repeat any, or does anyone have suggestions for others? Would we prefer genres to themes? Do poetry and drama need more of a push?

We still have quite a stock of authors we haven't covered yet, but as always, more candidates are welcomed.

Let's hear what you're all thinking.

>56 laytonwoman3rd: I like the AAC, but I wasn't as interested in the authors offered as in years past.

>56 laytonwoman3rd: I will always support the Challenge, Linda. I don't make every month but I do try to.

If we are lucky enough for you to do it again in 2022 then you can count me in.

My "plan" for next year is not to commit to anything, so I would probably take it month by month.

I always check it out and if it works, I try to participate. I read some new to me authors this year because of the challenge.

I never commit to participating fully, as you know, but I always read every introductory post (which never fails to learn me something) and I'm usually pretty excited to read a few of the authors. I'd hate for it to go away.

Agreeing with others. I am so bad some years, so can't commit it every month despite intentions, though do sometimes return later. Like Laura, I do love your introductions Linda, and do keep an eye for rave reviews others have posted.

I'll return with a list of potential names. I just read a collection of interviews with American writers and find I have only read 7 of the 23 interviewed! Shocking.

The Writer's Library (Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager)

ETA:

Here are a few writers I haven't read from those interviewed (though had heard of them all):

Jonathan Lethem
Jennifer Egan
TC Boyle
Charles Johnson
Russell Banks

and 1 I have read and just ordered more of:

Jane Hirshfield poet and essayist.

>57 fuzzi: I'd love to hear some suggestions as to who would interest you!

>58 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul. Good to know.

>59 katiekrug: I get that, Katie. Happy to see you whenever it fits your mood and interest.

>60 Kristelh: Good, good. Again, suggestions for themes or authors are most welcome.

>61 lycomayflower: Awww....thanks. You I can badger, anyway.

>62 Caroline_McElwee: Hmmm....The Writer's Library sounds intriguing. I don't know Charles Johnson or Jane Hirschfield.

Here is the link to my notes on the book with the contents pages so you can see who is included:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/336612#7650361

Another suggestion for the list: Denis Johnson.

Themes from last year that I enjoyed was Native American authors. I also liked all in the family and the music ones.
I am not good at this but maybe: authors who also write screen plays. Authors who write children's books, authors who have won awards such at National Book Award, Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize.

I would like the Native American one repeated.

>66 Kristelh: The Native American theme is one of my favorites, too, and is pretty much guaranteed to be repeated next year. I read 3 books on the theme in July, and have read 8 more since!

I think Pulitzer Prize winners might be a good choice. Thanks for bringing that up. I believe there are a number of people in the 75ers group who have a goal of reading all the PP winners, so that might bring a few more participants in.

I think you have done a fine job continuing the tradition, Linda. Of course, I have done a cruddy job keeping up these past couple of years. No excuse. Originally, my absence was due to just giving you a chance to develop your own style and then I just failed to keep up. I hope people continue to participate. For what it is worth, I think more theme months is the way to go.

>68 msf59: Thanks, boss! I do wish you'd pop around more frequently and share what you're reading. I agree about theme months. They've worked pretty well, and give people more flexibility of choice.

I do like many of your selections, so I should be chiming in, even if it is in a different time frame.

What about regional (Southwest, Northeast, specific state or city...) theme months?

>71 katiekrug: Yes, I like States. We could use that one for 50 years!

>63 laytonwoman3rd: there are many American authors from the past that have not been included. I'd like to dabble in some of the lesser-known classics.

>71 katiekrug: I like that too.

>73 fuzzi: James Fenimore Cooper is an author I want to read next year at some stage.

>74 PaulCranswick: I've read a couple of his books, worth the effort.

>73 fuzzi:, >74 PaulCranswick: Maybe a "19th Century Classics" theme? I've had an aversion to Cooper since my college days, when an American Lit professor I adored lambasted him, using Mark Twain's Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses as a bludgeon. The curriculum required that we read him, but not that we admire him. I probably should give him another chance.

>76 laytonwoman3rd: After reading David McCullough's The Greater Journey, which referenced Fenimore Cooper frequently, Judi bought fresh new copies of The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer. She read few chapters, reshelved the books, and never returned to Fenimore. (I'm going to look for Twain's report.)

>72 laytonwoman3rd: Got me thinking that Puerto Rican literature might be a theme, but a brief foray on the internet has revealed very little in translation. I'm going to give it a bit more research.

I was never a Cooper fan. I tolerate him when I do read one of his works, but I never like it that much.

>76 laytonwoman3rd: 19th century authors would be awesome...Hawthorne, Twain, Melville, Louisa May Alcott, Poe, Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Henry James, Sarah Orne Jewett, Bret Harte, Emily Dickinson, Longfellow, Washington Irving, Frederick Douglass...off the top of my head.

>79 thornton37814: >77 weird_O: I think Cooper is doomed, as an individual author choice. But, if we do 19th Century authors as a theme, those who want to visit with Natty Bumppo and the crew will have an opportunity to share.

>80 kac522: I was thinking we haven't done Sarah Orne Jewett...she's always worth reading.

Just for lagniappe here's a conversation between Wiley Cash and Clyde Edgerton, two of my favorites.

>82 laytonwoman3rd: My favorite word. Mostly unknown in California.

>83 quondame: Pennsylvanians don't use it a lot either! One of the best things I got out of living in Louisiana for three years.

>56 laytonwoman3rd: I enjoyed participating in the challenge this year and may participate next year again. It was good to discover and get to know new authors. The 19th-century theme sounds very appealing.

>79 thornton37814: I feel that way about Hawthorne, despised The Scarlet Letter.

>86 fuzzi: I hated it in high school; re-read it in my 60s and found it had lots of meaning as an adult.

>86 fuzzi: We read The Scarlet Letter in high school, and I had a great experience with it. Since then, I've learned the inspiration for Hester Prynne came from a wife of one of my ancestors, although she is not the one from whom I descend. (This ancestor had 4 wives total.)

>88 thornton37814: Oooh...how interesting! I remember enjoying The Scarlet Letter in high school too, but haven't revisited it.

>87 kac522: I never read it in high school, but picked it up a few years ago in my effort to read more classics. I despised everyone in that book, even the brat.

I have found that I need at least one sympathetic character in any book I'm reading, and The Scarlet Letter was devoid of any decency. I tossed The Bonfire of the Vanities only partly read for the same reason.

>90 fuzzi: The social x-rays were the highlight of The Bonfire of the Vanities, and that was just a bit of clever meanness.

Question--is there a "Wild Card" thread for 2021? Or is the place for Wild Card reads?

>92 kac522: You know, I don't think there is a dedicated thread for Wild Card reads. Your host seems to have dropped that ball this year! Feel free to post here. I'll remember to get one started for 2022.

Well then, although I didn't read any books from the regular challenges, I did read some American authors this year. Here are some highlights (and a couple lowlights):

Fiction:
--The Shawl, Cynthia Ozick; these are two related short pieces: the first "The Shawl" is about a young mother in a concentration camp,Lan and the second, "Rosa", is about the same woman 40 years later. Very powerful.
--The Touchstone, Edith Wharton; novella, one of Wharton's earliest works about ethics and conscience, with a heavy influence of Henry James.
--Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson; collection of stories centering around young George Willard; a re-read for me (from high school) that didn't live up to what I remembered; rather unhappy and dissatisfied people and not a positive female in sight.
--Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger; another re-read from high school, which I found OK at that time, but found no redeeming value this time around. Holden is just insufferable, IMHO.
--All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor; delightful first book in a children's series about a Jewish family in turn-of-the-century New York City, based on the author's family. New bio is out about Taylor, From Sarah to Sydney by June Cummins, which I hope to read soon.
--Staggerford, Jon Hassler; 9 days in 1970s small-town Minnesota; mostly funny except for a weird turn at the end; some uncomfortable portrayals of Native Americans, although for the time was probably meant to be sympathetic.
--Passing, Nella Larsen; a short but powerful book about the lives of two light-skinned black women in the 1920s and the choices they make; expertly crafted with a shocking ending; a re-read for me, and even more powerful the second time around.

Nonfiction:
--His Excellency, George Washington, Joseph Ellis; fascinating and readable look at our first President; have to read more by Ellis.
--Lanterns and Lances, James Thurber; a later collection of the classic humorist.
--The Pioneers, David McCullough; the latest McCullough about the settling of the Ohio territory in Marietta, Ohio. A joy to read.
--Our Malady, Timothy Snyder; a short book on Snyder's pre-pandemic medical emergencies and the failures of the U.S. health care system.

Between now and the end of the year, I hope to read:
--Now in November, Josephine Johnson; 1935 Pulitzer prize winner for fiction about the Depression and Dust bowl years in middle America; based on the author's own family.
--The Children's Blizzard, David Laskin; nonfiction account of the blizzard in 1888 in the Dakota territory that left 100+ children dead.
--Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton; fiction; hope to re-read
--Washington Square, Henry James, fiction
--The Country Ahead of us, the Country Behind, David Guterson; fiction set in the Pacific Northwest, by the author of Snow Falling on Cedars, which I loved years ago.
--Chicago in Fifty Objects, Joseph Gustaitis; nonfiction using 50 artifacts to tell the city's history

>94 kac522: Some very interesting reading there, Kathy. Thanks for sharing it here.

I'm interested to see you've read a biography of George Washington this year. I just came home from the library where I picked up Ron Chernow's massive tome on the first U.S. President. I may not read the entire thing, but it was listed in the bibliography of Never Caught, which I recently finished and reviewed quite unkindly on my own thread. I wanted to read the sections covering the time period of Ona Judge's escape and the Washingtons' so-called "relentless" pursuit of her, to see now Chernow treated all that.

"Holden is just insufferable, IMHO" This made me laugh. I have never seen the appeal of The Catcher in the Rye. But then, I've never been a disturbed adolescent boy, so maybe that explains it. If so, though, WHY is it so universally acclaimed and promoted to teenagers? Does it really speak to so many of them? Did it once and no longer? A whole thread could be devoted to it, I'm sure.

>95 laytonwoman3rd: The Ellis biography is a concise 275 pages; Ellis only devotes one paragraph to the recovery of slaves Hercules and Ona Judge, so this biography would not give you any additional perspective. Still, I found it an excellent overview biography.

The Salinger was for my RL book club, and there was a difference of opinion; a couple of us hated it, a few were OK with it, and several defended it. Personally I just had no sympathy for a whiny rich kid, who, like Salinger, can only approve of females who are young and pure (like his sister) and wants to run off to California and live in the woods (a la Salinger).

Anyway, I much more enjoyed MY selection for our book club the following month: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, a coming of age story written by a woman from a teen-age girl's point of view who is curious, enjoys life and loves people, but grows up a little by the end of the book. Amazingly the 2 books were published only 3 years apart.

Maybe it's a gender thing, I don't know.

>96 kac522: I Capture the Castle is a favorite of mine. I don't think it's a gender thing for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed some coming-of-age stories from a male perspective. Lean on Pete comes instantly to mind. How Green Was My Valley, Out Stealing Horses, Last Bus to Wisdom....

Just bumping this up to remind people to leave their thoughts, wishes, recommendations for 2022. I'm going to try to get the new list compiled in the next couple weeks.

Here are some suggestions from my TBRs. Apoligies if any of them has been included before. I haven't been following the AAC from the beginning. A couple of the authors were born outside the U.S. but their LC classification is with American authors.

Gail Godwin
Anne Tyler
Booth Tarkington
Michael Chabon
Edwidge Danticat
Jhumpa Lahiri
Amy Stewart

Is there a list anywhere of all the AAC challenges so far? I'm really curious to see all the authors that have been featured over the years.

I love the idea of a 19th century authors challenge.
I really enjoyed the Native American theme month this year and hope to see it return.

It just so happens that I have a list of the featured authors:

2014
january: WILLA CATHER
february: WILLIAM FAULKNER
march: CORMAC MCCARTHY
april: TONI MORRISON
may: EUDORA WELTY
june: KURT VONNEGUT
july: MARK TWAIN
august: PHILIP ROTH
september: JAMES BALDWIN
october: EDITH WHARTON
november: JOHN UPDIKE
december: LARRY WATSON

2015
january: CARSON MCCULLERS
february: HENRY JAMES
march: RICHARD FORD
april: LOUISE ERDRICH
may: SINCLAIR LEWIS
june: WALLACE STEGNER
july: URSULA K. LE GUIN
august: LARRY MCMURTRY
september: FLANNERY O'CONNOR
october: RAY BRADBURY
november: BARBARA KINGSOLVER
december: E. L. DOCTOROW
memorial: KENT HARUF

2016
january: ANNE TYLER
february: RICHARD RUSSO
march: JANE SMILEY
april: POETRY
may: IAN DOIG
june: ANNIE PROULX
july: JOHN STEINBECK
august: JOYCE CAROL OATES
september: JOHN IRVING
october: MICHAEL CHABON
november: ANNIE DILLARD
december: DON DELILLO

2017
january: OCTAVIA BUTLER
february: STEWART O'NAN
march: WILLIAM STYRON
april: POETRY
may: ZORA NEALE HURSTON
june: SHERMAN ALEXIE
july: JAMES MCBRIDE
august: PATRICIA HIGHSMITH
september: SHORT STORIES
october: ANN PATCHETT
november: RUSSELL BANKS
december: ERNEST HEMINGWAY

2018
january: JOAN DIDION
february: COLSON WHITEHEAD
march: TOBIAS WOLFF
april: ALICE WALKER
may: PETE HAMILL
june: WALTER MOSLEY
july: AMY TAN
august: LOUIS L'AMOUR
september: PAT CONROY
october: STEPHEN KING
november: NARRATIVE NONFICTION
december: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

2019
january: CHAIM POTOK
february: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
march: JON CLINCH
april: JESMYN WARD
may: JAY PARINI
june: PEARL BUCK
july: FOUNDING FATHERS
august: ERNEST J. GAINES
september: LESLIE MARMON SILKO
october: DRAMA
november: W. E. B. DU BOIS
december: MARILYNNE ROBINSON

2020
january: CHARLES FRAZIER
february: GRACE PALEY
march: DAVID MCCULLOUGH
april: FRANCINE PROSE
may: E. LYNN HARRIS
june: JEAN STAFFORD
july: WENDELL BERRY
august: ROBERT PENN WARREN
september: DAWN POWELL
october: WARD JUST
november: ANN PETRY
december: TONY HILLERMAN

2021
january: ALL IN THE FAMILY
february: ETHAN CANIN
march: ROXANNE GAY
april: AMERICANS MAKE MUSIC
may: MARY MCCARTHY
june: KEN KESEY
july: NATIVE AMERICAN
august: CONNIE WILLIS
september: HOWARD NORMAN
october: ATTICA LOCKE
november: ALBERT MURRAY
december: YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

A list of possible AAC honorees.

Carl Hiaasen
Richard Preston
Martin Cruz Smith
Michael Lewis
N. K. Jemisin
Katherine Ann Porter
Walter Isaacson
David Halberstam
Jill Lapore
David Sedaris
Dave Eggers
Ian Frazier
Mary Roach
Alice McDermott
E. B. White
Erik Larson
Nathaniel Philbrick
Norman Mailer
Raymond Carver
Shirley Jackson
Gore Vidal
John Cheever
Theme: GN
Jack London
Janet Malcolm
John McPhee
H. L. Mencken
Joseph Mitchell
Rebecca Solnit
Elizabeth Strout
Tom Wolfe
Richard Wright
Saul Bellow
Carl Sagan

My wildcard for November was Now in November by Josephine Johnson. Published in 1934, this won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1935 for Johnson, who was only age 24.

Now in November tells the story of a family farm in an unnamed place in the American heartland, during the Depression and Dust Bowl years. Told as first person narrative by the middle girl of 3 daughters, this is the story of the love/hate relationship with the farm and the land and each other. The father is harsh, the mother is often silent, the eldest daughter is difficult and the youngest daughter is ever the optimist. Our narrator Marget describes the landscape and animals with a fierce love, even as her father sees it only as his livelihood, and a struggling one at that, for the farm is highly mortgaged and the drought years are taking their toll. This is a sad and desperate little book, but is brilliantly written and relays the harsh reality about farming life during the Depression years.

>104 kac522:, I read that one this year, too. I also liked it.

>104 kac522: Thanks for sharing that, Kathy. That's a new one to me.
>105 Kristelh: A second positive vote---I'm going to have to search this one out.

>105 Kristelh:, >106 laytonwoman3rd: The book was critically acclaimed when it was published, but my guess is that it was eclipsed by The Grapes of Wrath, which came out in 1939.

>106 laytonwoman3rd: I had planned to lead this book in my RL book club, but there just aren't enough copies around--I don't think it's still in print, and my public library (Chicago) only has 2 copies, to give you an idea of availability.

>107 kac522: My library system doesn't have it at all. But, I found a reasonably priced copy on eBay. (Also found a $1400.00 copy on eBay, but I'll leave that for someone else!)

>108 laytonwoman3rd: Very good! I think Virago published it years ago; my library copy was from the Feminist Press at CUNY and looked like this:

>109 kac522:. That is the same cover I read. I must have got it from ILL. And yes, I think it is a Virago book.

>96 kac522: popping in here a couple weeks later...I loved Catcher in the Rye as a teenaged girl. I tried rereading it as an adult and agree that Holden is insufferable.

For me it's not a gender thing.

Oh, and I thoroughly enjoyed I Capture the Castle.

ETA: >97 laytonwoman3rd: and I loved How Green Was My Valley. There's a good sequel Green, Green My Valley Now.

Which reminds me, has anyone read anything by American author Mary O'Hara? You might be familiar with her from the My Friend Flicka series, which is not written for children. There's a lot of character development and adult issues within the pages.

>109 kac522:, >110 Kristelh:, Yes, the eBay listing had "VMC" in the description, so I assumed it was a Virago reissue.

I am hoping to put together the 2022 list by the weekend. I have some other volunteer obligations to get through in the next couple days, and then I can turn my attention to this one! So, last chance for suggestions, if you have more.

As you may have noticed, the list ain't here yet. Things cropped up. Maybe tomorrow?

Meanwhile, I came across this on a FB thread. The person was featuring the Santa figurine, but I couldn't help noticing the backdrop. Maybe an author who might appear on the list?

>114 laytonwoman3rd: I'm fond of the cat!

>114 laytonwoman3rd: Ann Patchett has already been an AAC pick.

How about Hunter S. Thompson?

I picked up a Howard Norman novel today, The Museum Guard , having enjoyed The Bird artist so much. I thought the penciled in price was odd til I realized that if I added sales tax it came to an even dollar amount. So it joined the monstrous TBR waiting list.

>116 weird_O: Very funny. (You did have your tongue in your cheek, didn't you?) As for HST...I suppose he warrants serious consideration.

>117 RBeffa: I haven't read that Norman yet, but it's on my shelf too.

Aaaaaaand....the winners are:

For the 2022 American Authors Challenge:

JANUARY Graphic novels and/or non-fiction

FEBRUARY Tess Gallagher

MARCH Bernard Malamud

APRIL Jennifer Finney Boylan

MAY 19th Century American Author of your choice

JUNE John Dos Passos

JULY Gish Jen

AUGUST Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

SEPTEMBER Pulitzer Prize Winners

OCTOBER John McPhee

NOVEMBER Native American authors, themes and history

DECEMBER Martha Gellhorn

WILD CARD SUGGESTION: A book written about or set in the state, province, city, etc. where you now live. (Or anything else you feel like substituting.)

>119 laytonwoman3rd: Nice selection!
Question about January: does the non-fiction need to be a graphic format, or is it ANY non-fiction?

>119 laytonwoman3rd: Looking forward to some of those Linda, and a couple of months where I can catchup with missed reads from this year too.

I may dip in and out of this one. I know I have more than one HLG book on my TBR list, so I hope I remember to read one in August.

>120 kac522: The suggestion was for a month featuring graphic novels, but I thought I'd broaden it to include graphic non-fiction as well. Naturally, if you want to do straight text non-fiction, you could invoke a wild card any time, and some of the authors selected are non-fiction writers, of course.

>121 Caroline_McElwee: I love to get non-Americans interested in this challenge, Caroline.

>122 thornton37814: We have loved Skip Gates's Finding Your Roots series so much, but outside of an introduction here and there, I've never read any of his work, so I'm eager to do so.

I'm delighted to see GNs, 19th century authors, Native American authors, Pulitzer winners, Skip Gates, and John McPhee on the list. Good work, Linda.

>123 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for the clarification. I have Malamud, Gates, Jen and many 19th works on the TBR shelves. I'm sure there's a Pulitzer somewhere in there, too.

The Face of War, a collection of Martha Gellhorn's writing, is currently on sale for Kindle for $1.99.

>126 katiekrug: Thanks for the heads-up! That's the one I had penciled in for Gellhorn month.

I have heard good things about The Correspondents. Martha Gellhorn is one of the six women writers profiled in the book. I might try to fit that one in, too.

>126 katiekrug: Thank you!

I have started the American Authors Challenge for 2022.

General Discussion Thread

The January thread is here.

and
The Wild Card Thread

>129 laytonwoman3rd: Saludos! I'm in.

>129 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda.