What I'm Reading: 'The Beautiful Struggle' by Ta-Nahesi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of my favorite journalists, and almost exclusively the writer I turn to when I want an intelligent response to issues related to race in America (the other is Gene Denby of NPR's Code Switch and PostBourgie). He's a great person to get caught-up on when you're in the mood for some serious long-form journalism. He's also the antidote to any conversation with an elderly person about the death of journalism because his articles are long and robust and meticulously researched and everything that journalism should be in 21st-century America. 

I loved his memoir, The Beautiful Struggle, which will surprise exactly no one who read the above paragraph. He reflects on his childhood and coming-of-age specifically, which makes me very hopeful for future volumes about  his time at Howard University or his early career as a professional writer. Coates grew up the son of an independent press owner/sometime Black Panther member in peak-crack epidemic Baltimore. I found everything about the memoir to be incredibly fresh and relevant and at a time in my life when I'm making a conscious effort to read more books by African American authors, I especially found The Beautiful Struggle  to be a true pleasure that I hope others take the time to discover. It wouldn't surprise me if it's one day part of a larger canon of influential books by African American men.

This Week in Books is Rather Slow...

As I mentioned recently, Facebook has a book club; not surprisingly, the first "meeting" did not go well, due largely to Facebook's algorithms, which did not display comments or questions in any kind of logical order. By the way, if the idea of online book clubs intrigue you, I highly recommend The Atlantic's version, 1Book140.

The American Scholar put together a list of neglected novels that ought to be considered "classics." I strongly agree with the Elizabeth Gaskell pick; just this week I read an essay in which Gaskell was carelessly tossed aside for being less great than Jane Austen. No one is as great as Jane Austen, and Elizabeth Gaskell was a terrific writer.

The Shortlist for the 2015 Tournament of Books has been announced (actually it was out a few weeks ago, I just wasn't paying attention). I've only read one book on the list, but I've got Elena Ferrante's first Neapolitan novel and Station Eleven on the Kindle. Winners will be determined in March.

This Week in Books: the Ethics of Shelving, Authors on the Internet

I loved this article from The Atlantic about shelving books in book stores. They actually call out the common Gabriel Garcia Marquez foible (I have actually pointed this out to a grateful book store employee before; in the 'M's people!). 

Marja Mills' new pseudo-biography of Harper Lee came out on Tuesday and has been getting tons of press. Harper Lee herself has been against the publication, which she deems "unauthorized," and she reiterated her sentiments this week.

Flavorwire had a nice round-up this week of "The 35 Writers Who Run the Literary Internet." Some of these I strongly agree with (Teju Cole, Roxane Gay), and others I'm very ambivalent about (the number of Twitter followers does not equate with quality level). However, if you're new to the world of contemporary authorship on the Internet, this is a good place to start. Add a few of the mentioned Tumblrs to your RSS feed to become better acquainted (and don't forget that most of these folks have actually physical books that were recently published, if you're a total ludite).