The Bookhive List: 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye was the first novel of Toni Morrison's I read (it was also the first novel she published), and it is still my favorite (although Sula gave it some serious competition).  I read it for a high school English class, and I raced through it in one day. Then I went back and read it again, this time underlining and making notes, which was time-consuming because I had multiple notes on each page. As short of a novel as it is, each page has some revelation of prose and rhetoric, and it is still one of the best examples of language I've ever read -- it is not a novel that gets hung up in its own plot or context or narrative structure -- it comes across as simply words on a page, and those words just happen to be yielded in a very complex and powerful way. It demonstrates a complete mastery of writing that no one can compete with.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

What I'm Reading: 'Sula' by Toni Morrison

I think this might be my favorite Toni Morrison novel now; what am I even saying? Is that crazy? The Bluest Eye is and has been and always will be really special to me, and is made all the more remarkable for being Morrison's FIRST novel (that is still shocking). But I love, love, love Sula. Female friendship has been a major theme that Morrison has explored in all of her fiction (at least all that I've read), but Sula is very squarely focused on it. Good books about female friendships are slowly coming to dominate my reading appetite (thank you, Elena Ferrante), and this has been so deliciously satisfying.

A brief word of encouragement to my male readers, of which I know there are at least three: just because a book is about female friendships doesn't mean that you won't enjoy it, and I strongly encourage everyone to read some Toni Morrison and Elena Ferrante. 

Books I Can't Even: 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison

Technically, Invisible Man should not count, because I did once read the entire book; it was an AP English Literature assignment, so I had little choice, but it was probably the only novel I read for school that I absolutely hated. Plus, I will always remember the time it helped me win a Quiz Bowl competition (Never forget -- Invisible Man and The Invisible Man are two different books).

 As I've mentioned, I'm making an effort to infuse my reading with more diversity, and generally I've found that to be a really rewarding challenge. And certainly I would agree with most high school English teachers that this is a book Americans should read But because I've already read it, I can be smug and complain about how little I enjoyed it. Naturally, a book that seeks the dramatize the African American experience in the first half of the twentieth century is not going to be a laugh riot. It's not just that the plot is plodding, joyless, struggle, but that the writing reflects this; because our nameless protagonist is treated as an "invisible man" by the world around him, he lacks development in a way that is frustratingly effective. It completely succeeds in its assertions about being African American, but as a result, it's incredibly tough to get through. Sometimes struggling through a difficult novel can be a really enriching experience, and often stellar African American literature is the best example of this -- Beloved is gut-wrenching, and there were so many times I had to put it down and take a break, but it absolutely deserves all the praise it has received and more, and Toni Morrison's incredible prose really eases the pain. Ralph Ellison is not trying to make this easy for the reader, however; the difficulty is the whole point. So in the end, I'm glad I read it and now I never have to read it again.

Books I Can't Even (apologies for the use of Internet cliches) is a recurring post on books I absolutely could not finish, usually after several attempts.

Black History Month for Adults: the Classics

Black History Month is something every elementary school kid becomes familiar with -- along with figures like George Washington Carver (peanuts!). Most adults spend little/no time thinking about African American history, either in the month of February or any other time of year, but we should all view it as a good time to inject our reading with some much-needed diversity. Thus, my picks for great reads to celebrate Black History Month:

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois -- Not an easy book, but an important one, and if I can read it, so can you. This is out of copyright too, which means it's very easy to get an audio or e-book version of it.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X -- I read this in junior high, which strikes me as very amusing now. What were my parents thinking? I remember really loving the first half, which chronicles his life as a pimp and a thief in great detail. As an adult, I found much more to appreciate in the political content, so I guess there's something for everyone in this book.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life by Marshall Frady -- Penguin Lives Biographies are terrific, and I have many, many on my shelves, including this one. After you've seen 'Selma,' read this succinct biography and appreciate the fact that MLK Jr. is a much more interesting human that you were ever taught in school.

Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin -- Every human should read James Baldwin. This is his most essential novel, but it's all good, and he also wrote some terrific essays throughout the Civil Rights movement.

Anything by Toni Morrison -- She is the essential African American authoress and she's a prolific writer, with a new novel coming out this spring. Start with The Bluest Eye, then try Beloved. Song of Solomon is Barack Obama's favorite novel.