Kate Schaefer - Reading recommendations

07:29 pm: Reading recommendations
It's Black History Month again, and the Carl Brandon Society recommends the following books of speculative fiction by writers of African descent:

Dark Matter: A Century Of Speculative Fiction From The African Diaspora, Sheree R. Thomas, editor, Warner/Aspect, 2000

Sly Mongoose, by Tobias S. Buckell, Tor Books, 2008

Fledgling, by Octavia E. Butler, Seven Stories Press, 2005

The Good House, by Tananarive Due, Washington Square Press, 2004

Midnight Robber, by Nalo Hopkinson, Aspect, 2000

The Shadow Speaker, Nnedi Okorafor, Hyperion Book CH, 2007

The Icarus Girl, by Helen Oyeyemi, Nan A. Talese, 2005

Wind Follower, by Carole Mcdonnell, Juno Books, 2007

Song Of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, Knopf, 1978, many other printings available

Filter House, by Nisi Shawl, Aqueduct Press, 2008

I've read and enjoyed four of these. I'll read a couple more this month. Most of these books are available through the public library; all of them can be bought through Amazon.com.

Comments

From:	wild_irises
Date:	February 2nd, 2009 03:50 am (UTC)

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It's not like you should have an answer to this, but do you have any idea why Song of Solomon rather than Beloved?

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From:	kate_schaefer
Date:	February 2nd, 2009 04:32 am (UTC)

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It's a group process. CBS members nominate books they want to recommend, then vote on the recommendations to narrow it down to 10. About 70 people voted. The books that end up on the list are the books people had on their minds recently, for whatever reason.

I'm pleased that this year's list includes more recent books than last year's list.

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From:	bittermint
Date:	February 2nd, 2009 04:01 am (UTC)

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Thanks for the recs. I've read the Butler and Hopkinson, but I didn't know Nisi had a new one out. *bops on over to Amazon to order*

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From:	kate_schaefer
Date:	February 2nd, 2009 04:34 am (UTC)

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Nisi's collection has had great reviews in several places, including Publisher's Weekly. I liked it, too.

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From:	farmgirl1146
Date:	February 2nd, 2009 05:01 pm (UTC)

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Thank you for posting the list, Kate.

Nisi's book is wonderful. I encourage you all to review it on Amazon (those reviews are picked up all over), and anywhere else you can think of after reading it. I plan to read Fledgling which we bought recently.

Edited at 2009-02-02 05:02 pm (UTC)

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From:	neile
Date:	February 2nd, 2009 11:16 pm (UTC)

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I'm surprised that I've already read seven of them. Of course, it was about 25 years ago that I read Song of Solomon and don't remember anything about it, so I'm due for a re-read. I wonder if my copy will hold up to that. I have her new one out of the library right now.

Haven't read the McDonnell, or that particular Due or Buckell but have read others by them. They're on my list now, thanks!

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From:	jry
Date:	February 3rd, 2009 09:28 am (UTC)

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I'm looking forward to reading a few of these. Thanks for the list!

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From:	(Anonymous)
Date:	February 6th, 2009 08:09 pm (UTC)

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Thanks for the list, Kate. Just a note though -- in my experience, any book that Amazon says they have in stock I can get through my local, independent bookstore (in my case, Fremont Place Books). I find Amazon helpful for out-of-print books, through their partner links, although even for those AbeBooks and similar sites are equally useful.

-- Denys

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From:	e_bourne
Date:	February 12th, 2009 03:39 pm (UTC)

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Kate, can you email me? I need a tax deduction thingie from Clarion and the website was not allowing me to email from the Clarion Website this morning.

Thanks!

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