African-American Authors

Meeting Summary: June 26, 2009

We enjoyed a lovely summer evening in Barb's garden and discussed the following books:

Ada: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (j title)

Teresa: The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis (j title)

Monster by Walter Dean Myers (YA title)

Here in Harlem: poems of many voices by Walter Dean Myers

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Kerry: Sorority Sisters by Tajuana "TJ" Butler

Between Brothers by C. Kelly Robinson

Barb: A Hungry Heart: a Memoir by Gordon Park (photos)

Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes

Kathryn: On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Guardian by Julius Lester (YA title)

Ada is planning an evening for us at the Chinatown Night Market, tentatively on Sunday, August 23. Mark it on your calendar.

The next meeting will be at Teresa's on October 9. The topic is a little tricky, but you've got lots of time to track something down. It is "club fiction". In other words fiction that is about a group of people who get together because of a common interest, say a book club or a language class (like Binchy's The Evening Class) or a cooking class or a sports club or even, I think, an organised tour. Barb describes it thusly:

The subject heading I was trying to think of last night was "women-societies and clubs - fiction". In the FVRL catalogue you only get 7 titles - VPL a few more. If we were looking to include groups that include men it seems you have to be more specific such as "cooking school- fiction". So it may be a little hard to describe. Novelist wasn't much help either. I think what we were thinking of is plots where a group of individuals who don't already all know each other come together for a purpose such as a class or a club.

If you come up with some good titles, post them as a comment on the blog.

Hope we all have a happy summer.