#1 & 2: Black Betty, Walter Mosley; Dawn, Octavia Butler

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

#1: Black Betty, Walter Mosley

I started off with something that matches my standard reading pattern: Basic detective fiction. I read a lot of murder mysteries -- they're my fluff reading -- so I was grateful when a pile of books that wild_irises lent me included this book. I'd read Devil in a Blue Dress long ago, and I can only surmise that I haven't read more of Mosley's stuff because I'm a half-unconscious sheep, and I have been too intellectually lazy to seek out POC mystery authors.

(The publishers certainly aren't going out of their way to point them out to me -- just now, I checked a top-ten-bestselling-mysteries list, and as far as I can see, they're all white.)

Anyway, I liked the story, and I liked the way that Easy doesn't fit the stereotypical detective mold. He's not always the good guy. He doesn't always protect people. He lets bad things happen -- it will be a while before I get the images of all his dead friends out of my head. He is afraid of people who can harm him. He is very human and not at all invulnerable. I'll be checking out more of Mosley's stories.

#2: Dawn, Octavia Butler

I don't read much science fiction, and I'm not really sure why, because I do usually like it when I read it. Dawn is no exception. I did think at one point "This will never become a movie, because it's written in the slow style of days long gone", but then again, so was "Enemy Mine", and that was made into a movie. Anyway, the pace was a plus for me -- no car chases or anything, but it was a quick, pleasant read even though it dealt with some really serious issues. I am not entirely comfortable with where it left off, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I will certainly get the next books in the series, because while I don't doubt at all that Butler will continue poking at issues of slavery, xenophobia, and torture, I just have to know how it turns out, and I really want for the ending to the series to be more satisfying than the ending to Dawn.

Comments

[lavender-gurl.livejournal.com]

Most of the time, if you're searching out black books, the black fiction is segregated from regular fiction. At least in Borders. Most B&N's have then mixed together by genre as it should be. And best seller's lists aren't controlled by publishers but by the people doing the buying (or the 15 stores that report to Bookscan.)

Granted, if people don't know where to look they can't buy them. Frustrating catch 22.