Black Coffee discussion

Hi everyone! In order to ensure that everyone has enough time to acquire their books, we're posting the nominations a little earlier. The theme for June is historical fiction. Let the nominations begin!

I nominate Grant Park by Leonard Pitts Jr..

Are we reading books by everyone in the group? Those that are writers?

Are we skipping May? We'll be doing Pym for April, and then this is for June nominations. Did I miss one?

We're not skipping May; we're just trying to post nominations earlier so people have more time to get their books

Lisa, here is the thread for May nominations: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Toni,
Members can nominate their books if it fits the theme and they meet the guidelines found here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks, I saw it pop up no long after I asked.

I nominate Fire from the Rock


Sylvia is shocked and confused when she is asked to be one of the first black students to attend Central High School, which is scheduled to be integrated in the fall of 1957, whether people like it or not. Before Sylvia makes her final decision, smoldering racial tension in the town ignites into flame. When the smoke clears, she sees clearly that nothing is going to stop the change from coming. It is up to her generation to make it happen, in as many different ways as there are colors in the world.

I nominate
Douglass' Women

Frederick Douglass, the great African-American abolitionist, was a man who cherished freedom in life and in love. In this ambitious work of historical fiction, Douglass' passions come vividly to life in the form of two women: Anna Murray Douglass and Ottilie Assing.

Douglass' Women is an imaginative rendering of these two women -- one black, the other white -- in Douglass' life. Anna, his wife, was a free woman of color who helped Douglass escape as a slave. She bore Douglass five children and provided him with a secure, loving home while he traveled the world with his message. Along the way, Douglass satisfied his intellectual needs in the company of Ottilie Assing, a white woman of German-Jewish descent, who would become his mistress for decades to come. How these two women find solidarity in their shared love for Douglass -- and his vision for a free America -- is at the heart of Jewell Parker Rhodes' extraordinary, epic novel.

Douglass' women was very good Londa.

I agree. Douglass' women was a mind blower for me. LOL.

I'll nominate The Street by Ann Petry.

The Street is a novel published in 1946 by African-American writer Ann Petry. Set in World War II era Harlem, it centers on the life of Lutie Johnson. Petry's novel is a commentary on the social injustices that confronted her character, Lutie Johnson, as a single black mother in this time period. Lutie is confronted by racism, sexism, and classism on a daily basis in her pursuit of the American dream for herself and her son, Bub. Lutie fully subscribes to the belief that if she follows the adages of Benjamin Franklin by working hard and saving wisely, she will be able to achieve the dream of being financially independent and move from the tenement in which she lives on 116th Street. Franklin is embodied in the text through the character Junto, named after Franklin's secret organization of the same name. It is Junto, through his secret manipulations to possess Lutie sexually, who ultimately leads Lutie to murder Junto's henchman, Boots. Junto represents Petry's deep disillusionment with the cultural myth of the American dream.

Lulu wrote: "I agree. Douglass' women was a mind blower for me. LOL.

I'll nominate The Street by Ann Petry.

The Street is a novel published in 1946 by African-American writer A..."

Funny - I nominated this for a different group's read a couple of weeks ago. I would like to read it and learn more about Petry in the process.

I have The Street on a challenge in another group so I'd like to read that as well.

The Street is one of my favorites, and Pitts wrote one of my other favorites ( Freeman ). Grant Park should be really good. All good choices

Great nominations! Last call for nominations for June. I'm going to post the poll for the June read tomorrow and link it here; it will be open for one week, so make sure to vote!

Will the poll go up soon?

Here's the link to the poll!

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