Let's Select Our Next Book! October Book Club Poll and Meeting at Whittier Cafe!
Details
Hey Book Club People! We've been having some amazing discussions lately about current events, the books we've been reading, and community. It's so important that we continue to band together during these trying times and build true community to support each other. My spirit and soul are filled with excitement and possibility every time that we meet because I continue to realize that we are so much more powerful than the ridiculous hypocrites and ghouls that we're seeing everyday these days in the news. Our next book will be a non-fiction title that we'll discuss during our October book club meeting on the tentative meeting date of October 26th, Sunday, and I hope that we can continue those conversations.
I'm setting up a book club poll for everyone to vote on the next book before October 7th at 11:59pm. We'll have a little meeting on October 5th at the Whittier Cafe to discuss book club happenings as well as what people think of the book that will ultimately be chosen. I will announce the book on October 8th, Wednesday evening.
FYI, our book club alternates between fiction and nonfiction books, and this is a non-fiction month. We will be choosing between the following 7 titles (these were randomly selected from our book club list):
Poll: https://strawpoll.com/e2naX9PmAyB
Poll closes on October 7th at 11:59pm MDT!!
------------------------------Book Descriptions Below-------------------
Angela Davis: An Autobiography by Angela Davis - A 1974 political memoir covering Davis's early life, from her childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, during the Jim Crow era to her activism with the Communist Party and Black Panther Party, her time on the FBI's most wanted list, and her high-profile trial for a 1970 courthouse incident. Written in her late twenties, the book is described as a warm, brilliant, and humorous account of her life in the Black liberation movement and struggle against systemic racism and injustice.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates - Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates's attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son--and readers--the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children's lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind: Madness and Black Radical Creativity by La Marr Jurelle Bruce - "Hold tight. The way to go mad without losing your mind is sometimes unruly." So begins La Marr Jurelle Bruce's urgent provocation and poignant meditation on madness in black radical art. Bruce theorizes four overlapping meanings of madness: the lived experience of an unruly mind, the psychiatric category of serious mental illness, the emotional state also known as "rage," and any drastic deviation from psychosocial norms.
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson - In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.
I Can't Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux - With the characteristic wit and candor that have made him one of today's boldest writers on social issues, I Can't Date Jesus is Michael Arceneaux's impassioned, forthright, and refreshing look at minority life in today's America. Leaving no bigoted or ignorant stone unturned, he describes his journey in learning to embrace his identity when the world told him to do the opposite.
The Autobiography of Medgar Evers by Manning Marable - The Autobiography of Medgar Evers tells the full story of one the greatest leaders of the civil rights movement, bringing his achievement to life for a new generation. Although Evers's memory has remained a force in the civil rights movement, the legal battles surrounding his death have too often overshadowed the example and inspiration of his life. Myrlie Evers-Williams and Manning Marable have assembled the previously untouched cache of Medgar's personal documents, writings, and speeches.
We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land and Legacy by Natalie Baszile - In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories to examine black people's connection to the American land from Emancipation to today. In the 1920s, there were over one million black farmers; today there are just 45,000. Baszile explores this crisis, through the farmers' personal experiences. In their own words, middle aged and elderly black farmers explain why they continue to farm despite systemic discrimination and land loss. The "Returning Generation"--young farmers, who are building upon the legacy of their ancestors, talk about the challenges they face as they seek to redress issues of food justice, food sovereignty, and reparations.
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Poll:
These books were randomly selected from the book list at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EfdJlaTJydyXoiQsEcb02k1cYucu-Ta-EYc6alkKOTw/edit?usp=sharing
Everyone gets to make 3 selections and voting ends on October 7th, Tuesday, 11:59pm. I will announce the book that has the most votes on October 8th, Wednesday evening, and then I will schedule a tentative meeting at a TBD venue on October 26th, Sunday! Don't hesitate to DM me if you think that you need more time to read the book and we may be able to move back the meeting date.
Also, If you have a particular book that you'd like to add to future polls, feel free to contact me on Meetup or add it to the book list shown above!
Thank you all for showing up and being such incredible people!
-austin