Black Coffee discussion

Okay everyone. It's time to pick a nonfiction book for June. Please remember one book per person. This thread will remain open until April 8th when the poll is up. This month their will be no theme so options should open up!

kisha wrote: "Okay everyone. It's time to pick a nonfiction book for June. Please remember one book per person. This thread will remain open until April 8th when the poll is up. This month their will be no th..."

I think you meant historical fiction for this one

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

In the 1680s the slave trade in the Americas is still in its infancy. Jacob Vaark is an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, with a small holding in the harsh North. Despite his distaste for dealing in “flesh,” he takes a small slave girl in part payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner in Catholic Maryland. This is Florens, who can read and write and might be useful on his farm. Rejected by her mother, Florens looks for love, first from Lina, an older servant woman at her new master's house, and later from the handsome blacksmith, an African, never enslaved, who comes riding into their lives.A Mercy reveals what lies beneath the surface of slavery. But at its heart, like Beloved, it is the ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother and a daughter-a mother who casts off her daughter in order to save her, and a daughter who may never exorcise that abandonment.

Aww man! thanks I'll fix it.

The Spook Who Sat by the Door by Sam Greenlee

A classic in the black literary tradition, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is both a comment on the civil rights problems in the United States in the late 60s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of black militancy.

Dan Freeman, the "spook who sat by the door," is enlisted in the CIA's elitist espionage program. Upon mastering agency tactics, however, he drops out to train young Chicago blacks as "Freedom Fighters" in this explosive, award-winning novel.

Great suggestion, Londa! That's the book I was going to recommend. :)

Kanita wrote: "Great suggestion, Londa! That's the book I was going to recommend. :)"

Perfect. I would love to finish another Morrison book for the author challenge ;o) Besides, it has been on my to-read list for a while.

We would LOVE a few more nominations here! There is no theme for June so any HISTORICAL FICTION will do. (as long as it deals with AA/African Continent/African diaspora themes)

Welcome to or group Roy! Thanks for the nominations. You are definitely in tune with us. We just read The Known World in February. We recently implemented a 1 nomination rule last month. Which of the remaining two would you like to add to the poll?

The autobiography of an ex colored man

I saw this book on Amazon this morning (the author was an Amazon "success story", it was inspiring :)):

A Strange and Bitter Fruit by Barry C. Davis

I haven't read it yet but just from the blurb I'm really interested. Here it is:

Thomas "Tee" Powell, 15, manages to escape as his family is lynched. His father, Zeke, mother Hessie and young sisters Lannie and Effie were hung to teach the blacks of Aiken that voting is not the right of the former slaves, not anymore.

He is angry, but instead of wildly lashing out at the Klansmen that murdered his family, he runs away. After a disastrous detour to Tallahassee, Tee joins the Army and ends up in the West, at a remote Army outpost on the lip of the Black Hills. Here, he grows up and begins to accept responsibility for his life and for the lives of others. After six years, the past, in the form of two of the Klansmen, one now a U.S. Senator on a mission to sign a treaty with the Indians, confronts him.

He had buried his past deep, even changing his last name. Now, he has to confront it head on, starting with the two killers that entered his fort. Trained by the Army to kill, Tee emerges from his exile and takes revenge on those that committed the murder of his family, beginning with the two men. His purpose is now clear, he must take revenge, and he proceeds ruthlessly to do so. But revenge has its own cost, and Tee suffers that price. Many innocent people are killed, and he struggles with the guilt.

A Strange and Bitter Fruit is the story of revenge and its consequences. It is a story of violence and race, a true American story. The novel raises serious questions: Is there a limit on revenge? Is there an act so horrible that any response, no matter how vicious, is just?

Londa wrote: "Welcome to or group Roy! Thanks for the nominations. You are definitely in tune with us. We just read The Known World in February. We recently implemented a 1 nomination rule last month. Which o..."
I suppose The Known World is more of a book club conversation starter so I'll go with that. I do highly recommend Freeman as well though.

Thanks for all the nominations!

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https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...