Recs Post!

Feb. 28th, 2011 12:40 pm
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
[personal profile] sanguinity posting in [community profile] 50books_poc
It's been a long, long time since we've done a recs post. Some of you have been asking for recs as we've gone along (and please continue to do so!), but just in case anyone has been hesitant to start a post of their own, please feel free to use this one. :-)

But first...

  • Tehelka, an Indian newsweekly, did a special Pulp and Noir short fiction issue a little while back.

  • Did you know that Expanded Horizons ("speculative fiction for the rest of us") has an authors of color tag?

  • Over at Tumblr, WildUnicornHerd has a roundup of Ted Chiang's works, with links for what is available for free online.

  • Unusualmusic at Angry Black Woman is asking for recs for technology-heavy SF books by POC authors -- go forth and recommend!

    She's also got some links to news about Nnedi Okorafor and Zadie Smith, just in case you want to know such things. ;-)


Got a rec? Need a rec? Is there any particular thing that you've been looking for that you haven't been able to find? Ask in the comments!

Date: 2011-02-28 09:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] recklessblues.livejournal.com
I have a couple rec requests: anything by a Stoney Nakoda writer, and LGBT (or subversive/punk/taqwacore) Muslim stuff.

As for giving them - I just read I am a Chechen! by German Sadulaev and I liked it a lot.

Date: 2011-02-28 09:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seekingferret.livejournal.com
I'm reading about physics at the moment. Enthusiastic recommendations issued for Anil Ananthaswamy's The Edge of Physics and M.Y. Han's The Secret Life of Quanta. Soberer recommendation issued for Michael Guillen. Also, waaaay back when I started I really enjoyed Ronald Mallett's The Time Traveller.


I'd appreciate any recommendations. And yes, I need to get to Neil Tyson DeGrasse. I've seen him speak and know he's awesome, but I haven't read any of his books yet.

Date: 2011-03-01 12:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tesseract26.livejournal.com
I just read Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African Americans (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/still-i-rise-id-1402762267.aspx). I liked that it wasn't univocal - there are a couple of narrators who argue back and forth about the meanings of various historical events. Very cool.

I also just read Anita Diamant's Day After Night. It takes place in a DP (displaced persons) camp after WWII. I've always been fuzzy on what happened to European Jewish folks after liberation from the concentration camps, and this was a well-written fictionalization of some of those events, piquing my curiosity and encouraging me to seek more information. It had strong, complicated female characters and really sucked me in - I devoured it in less than 48 hours.

Date: 2011-03-01 10:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tesseract26.livejournal.com
Diamant is Jewish. I saw "Jewish" in the tag list and assumed that counted. Apologies if I misunderstood.

Date: 2011-03-01 07:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seekingferret.livejournal.com
Or, in at least one case, white Jews who co-wrote books with authors of color.

Date: 2011-03-01 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seekingferret.livejournal.com
Also, looking at the tag, I see it has also been used for books by non-Jewish authors of color writing about Jews or Jewish issues. (That tangle between tags identifying the author and tags identifying subject matter that the long-promised tag overhaul is promising to help clarify?)

Web resources

Date: 2011-03-01 04:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sweet-adelheid.livejournal.com
Just found this today (while looking for information on something entirely different): The Black Book (http://www.theblackbook.com.au). It provides details for Indigenous organisations and individuals working across 95 professions in the arts, media and cultural industries. It would also be a great resource for anyone doing [livejournal.com profile] 12films_poc. To search a person, go to "Directory", or for a work, go to "Library".

Also found today: this list of "additional key texts" (http://www.macquariepenanthology.com.au/abor-keytexts.html") that are associated with the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature. I've just put "The Best Little Knitter in the West" on reserve, because that's got to be by Sermsah from "So You Think You Can Dance?" Australia. Or, you know, someone with the same name...
Edited Date: 2011-03-01 04:27 am (UTC)

Date: 2011-03-01 08:37 am (UTC)
oyceter: teruterubouzu default icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] oyceter
Apparently my romance kick is not yet over, so... rec me romances by POC!

I have read and really liked Marjorie M. Liu.

I have read and kind of liked Karen Harbaugh, Pearl Cleage, Sherry Thomas, and Nalini Singh.

I have read and bounced off of Beverly Jenkins, Jade Lee

I have not yet read but mean to read Butterfly Swords.

I am not a big fan of contemporaries that do a lot of brand-name dropping (couldn't get through Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez), or ones with a lot of suspense plots in which the man is very macho and manly, and I tend to like things in which there's some play with romance gender role tropes. I know I'm missing a ton of stuff in African-Am romance, but would really appreciate recs from people in the comm, since my tastes tend to... not really coincide with the tastes of a lot of people at romance review sites.

Date: 2011-03-01 03:06 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
I'm currently interested in biographies and autobiographies. I'd appreciate any recs!

Date: 2011-03-04 07:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carlyinrome.livejournal.com

How about Red Azalea by Anchee Min?

Date: 2011-03-04 07:51 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
Sounds interesting, thank you!

Date: 2011-03-04 09:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] reiza-gw.livejournal.com
You might like The Woman Warrior and China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston.

Date: 2011-03-05 06:57 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
Those are already on my wish list. Thank you!

Date: 2011-03-05 05:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veleda-k.livejournal.com
I loved The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin. Also When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace, both by Le Ly Hayslip. And The Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother by William Poy Lee

Date: 2011-03-05 07:00 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
They all sound very interesting, thank you!
Also our tastes seem to be pretty similar, would you mind if I friended you?

Date: 2011-03-07 04:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veleda-k.livejournal.com
I have no problem being friended, but I feel I must warn you that all I blabber on about is obscure anime, with the occasional burst of "Hey, maybe I should actually talk about something important." (I mean, not that the sex lives of fictional people aren't totally important.)

Date: 2011-03-11 03:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chipmunk-planet.livejournal.com
I really liked The Story of my Life and Work (http://community.livejournal.com/50books_poc/211484.html) by Booker T. Washington and The Story of my Life as Told to Alex Haley (http://community.livejournal.com/50books_poc/302256.html) by Malcolm X. The last one in particular is excellent.

Date: 2011-03-11 07:48 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
I'll look into those, thank you!

Date: 2011-03-02 11:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veleda-k.livejournal.com
Since March is Women's History Month, I'm looking for some books about awesome women of color throughout history. I'm trying to be as global as possible, with lots of variety regarding time period and personal identity.

Date: 2011-03-03 01:47 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
You might be interested in the Narrative of Sojourner Truth.

Date: 2011-03-03 03:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veleda-k.livejournal.com
She was definitely an awesome woman! Unfortunately, I read that one last year. But thanks.

Date: 2011-03-03 05:27 pm (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
Books that are on my wish list, but I haven't read yet:

COLOR ME FLO by Flo Kennedy

A Daughter of Isis by Nawal El Saadawi

Date: 2011-03-03 06:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veleda-k.livejournal.com
Ooh, both of those look really interesting. Thanks!

Date: 2011-03-04 10:32 am (UTC)
tamsin: (Default)
From: [personal profile] tamsin
Last one, I promise: For Freedom's Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Chana Kai Lee

Date: 2011-03-03 05:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] veleda-k.livejournal.com
I read Iran Awakening last year, but the other two are new to me. Thanks!

Date: 2011-03-04 07:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marydell.livejournal.com
The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln (http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Gluckel-Hameln/dp/0805205721) is an awesome memoir by a Jewish woman in Germany in the 17th century. (I know Jews are treated as white a lot of the time in our century, but back then, really not, so it might be in line with what you're looking for).

Date: 2011-03-05 05:10 am (UTC)

Date: 2011-03-05 11:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bkworm9.livejournal.com
Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize winner, human rights lawyer)

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