Month: March 2022

The Katurran Odyssey by David Michael Wieger, illustrated by Terryl Whitlatch

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This entry is part 13 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As with other posts in this series, these #booksread2022 posts go anywhere from a few weeks to a month after I’ve read them. I read this particular book last week, though!  This year, I’ve decided it’s time to start reading longer stories to my son. I’ve been reading to him since before he could speak, but until now, it’s been shorter books. He’s gotten into some longer things on his own, despite being unble to read for himself as yet—the Dog Man comics are a big hit, as are Captain Underpants, but until now I hadn’t read anything longer to …

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The Wages of Whiteness (Revised Edition) by David R. Roediger

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This entry is part 12 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As with other posts in this series, these #booksread2022 posts go anywhere from a few weeks to a month after I’ve read them. I read this particular book last week, though!  The Wages of Whiteness is a book that’s been on my shelf since I read John Strausbaugh’s Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture back in Bucheon, years ago when I was preparing to teach a course in American Popular Culture. That was a book that yielded up a few fascinating-sounding references: I read Nick Tosches’ Where Dead Voices Gather pretty soon after (and …

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“The Slave” from Anna Brownell Jameson’s Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada

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I recently stumbled upon an account of an event in Niagara in 1837 that I cannot resist posting here, as it brought to mind the more recent (and ongoing) Black Lives Matter protests within the U.S. Like others who stumble upon the reference, I was a bit baffled that I’d never heard about it before.  Here’s some context: Anna Brownell Jameson was a (white) Anglo-Irish feminist writer and art historian. This account is from her description of a trip through the Ontario countryside during a visit to Canada around this time. Her stop in Niagara came early into that trip, …

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Hidden Folk, by Eleanor Arnason

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This entry is part 11 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As with other posts in this series, these #booksread2022 posts go anywhere from a few weeks to a month after I’ve read them. I read this particular book last week, though!  Eleanor Arnason is a longtime speculative fiction writer: she’s been publishing since the 1970s, and her work spans SF, fantasy, and poetry, but this is the first thing I’ve read by her. I was attracted by two things: a positive comment about another book of hers by a friend, and the fact that Hidden Folk explores the mythic landscape of Iceland. At the time, I was finally reading some …

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Elements of Fiction, by Walter Mosley

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This entry is part 10 of 56 in the series 2022 Reads

As with other posts in this series, these #booksread2022 posts go anywhere from a few weeks to a month after I’ve read them. I read this particular book last week, though!  Elements of Fiction was okay for what it is, but what is it? It’s a followup to an earlier book by Walter Mosley, This Year You Write Your Novel. The title should tell you that this earlier book is aimed at someone early in the process of becoming a writer, and my impression is that Elements of Fiction is, too. It’s a very short read: the ebook I borrowed …

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