By Michael W. Twitty
A descendant of enslaved people as well as enslavers, Twitty goes from figuring out his family tree to dissecting the origins of the foods he grew up on, southern food. There's a lot to absorb here, in terms of food making, history, DNA tests. Some chapters were easier and faster for me to read, others were slower, not as interesting. Overall, quite a fascinating and illuminating journey [non-fiction; 444 pp.].
By Timothy Hyman
This book is a great introduction to modern art if you're not only interested in abstract expressionism (AbEx). As a newbie to art history, I found it fascinating and very informative, though at times I had to look at some artists' works online to compare past paintings to those included in the book.
Artists included in this book are varied in background, gender, race, and nationalities. Some are 'outsiders' who painted outside of the art world. Others had gained their name as AbEx, but realized they needed more, and as a consequence were shunned by the art scene when they switched to figurative. Different periods in the 20th century are discussed in the context of art. It's beautiful to see all the different ways artists find to express their ideas and thoughts in an era that doesn't appreciate seeing recognizable figures in paintings, and, later on, paintings in general. Many of the artists mentioned here I haven't heard of, and it's not completely due to my ignorance. They were literally erased from art history books. I'm glad things are changing now. [256 pp., including bibliogrpahy, illustration list, and index]
A Catalog
By Hilton Als. Foreword by Jeremy Lewison
A collection of paintings and drawings by Alice Neel, some of them accompanied by beautiful essays by Hilton Als that offer a combination of historical background on the subject of the work, some insight into Alice Neel's thoughts, and Als's own experience and perspective that relate to the painting. [144pp.]
Link to book and exhibition
By Therese Anne Fowler
This was not an enjoyable book to read. Well, some parts were fine, but there was this narrator (first person plural -- presumably some self-assigned neighborhood representative) who kept warning of a tragedy to come, which I found quite annoying. Not to say it was a bad book, or that it didn't rise any emotions in me (yes, I teared up at the end), but it was too good a reminder of what a fucked up society we are living in, right now, which is frustrating when there's not much you could do. [311pp.]
By Nell Zink
Well, this book was hilarious and weird. Not exactly what I expected, but also made sense in retrospect. I guess I didn't expect it to be about racial issues, though. I like to compare it to a Jane Austen novel, only with more sex and drugs. The Austen part refers to the way she criticizes society. The rest of it is far from Austen. More like a mix of a soap opera and a spy comic book. As I said, it was weird. And hilarious. Recommended. [256 pp.]
By Richard Wright
This book was not what I expected. The author didn't want it to be, and he quite succeeded in that. He also didn't want to make people to cry while reading this book. Well, this part almost work for me. I only cried toward the end.
My expectations were skewed also because the previous book I read of this author was his autobiography/memoir. I expected that book to be intense, but it wasn't. I really loved reading it. This book, however, was very intense, but not quite as alluring. It took me a while to get into it, and often I was almost dreading getting back to it. Sometimes I felt like the character was doing irrational things, which was quite annoying. But then things started to make more sense in the third part of the book. It was also the part I read the fastest. And cried like a baby. [398 pp.]
By Lillian Li
This book was very different from what I had expected based on the cover. I was expecting a humorous family drama, instead, there was quite a tension and mafia-like behavior between all the characters involved. The narrator covers one of two families per chapter, normally alternating, which is not my favorite structure, either. It wasn't easy for me to get into it, but by the end of it I felt like it was okay. [290 pp.]
