When's the last time you read books like these?

[Blow_Pop]

1. I read Invisible Man in high school. Do playwrights count? Like Langston Hughes? People who read don't read enough plays.

2. Almost constantly, I finished Crime and Punishment last fall and during the winter and I gobbled up The Millennium Trilogy. In between those I read a few assorted manga.

This Summer though I want to focus on a few books: "In Cold Blood" and "Ulysses" I've heard both really require a great deal of attention, so I'll probably not see a word of translated literature until Fall.

In Cold Blood was brilliant (and fyi Capote was white) and from what I remember, I enjoyed Crime and Punishment the first time I read it. Haven't tried to get a copy of Ulysses yet though.....

But honestly I don't see why Langston Hughes wouldn't count(I've mostly read his poems so far even though I have his collected works)never mind that comment as I just re-read the OP and first page and as a play or a poem isn't a novel it's apparently disqualified from this....though why the OP would disqualify any published work by a non white person I am unsure of but *shrugs*

Langston Hughes wrote prose too, he's just more commonly remembered for his role in popularising jazz poetry and the Harlem Renaissance.

That said, I certainly think poets and dramatists should certainly be included. They're different forms of writing, sure, but there are just as many themes/messages/morals presented and in many cases, the use of language can be considered far more controlled. Excluding black writers who don't write in the novel genre is ridiculous, in my humble opinion. Claude McKay, James Berry, Effie Lee Newsome etc. etc. have equal value as writers.

I do have to agree. Prose is just as valid as a novel. Published work is published work. Some people can't read novels. Others can't read anything but novels. Me? I'm just slowly reading my way through about 6 or 7 counties worth of libraries right now (since the system my library is in consists of 6 or 7 other counties and my books tend to come from all over So Cal) with no definitive genre. And on a more personal note, I wish more non white non men would get published. There is some amazing talent in the world by women and people of colour that should get out but unfortunately it's still a white male dominated profession. Sadly.

 

[Blow_Pop]

Well, let's be honest here, people -- if I'd asked for a white writer, every single person would have been able to name at least one writer they knew was white that they'd read. Even though they "don't care about race and never bother to look up what a writer's face looks like." And that says something about our society, though I'm not sure what yet.

It says that pretty much all the most publicised authors (ie, those whose faces get plastered all over the internet/TV) are white. People only tend to know anything about either "classic" or "celebrity" authors. Black authors only really tend to get major publicity when they're writing about specific race issues, and you excluded those sorts of books from your criteria.

I totally agree that's a problem, but as others have said, it's a problem with the publishers, not the consumers of books (who, judging by this thread at least, genuinely wouldn't notice a sudden increase in black authors, or decrease in white ones for that matter).

Which, in fact, some of us would greatly love. And more female authors as well. And not just in the romance category because women can write more than romance. Hell, let's not just stop with black authors, how about authors of every race/ethnicity. And the only reason I know the ethnicity of the authors I read is because I use goodreads.com to track my books I've read so I can go back and look at who/what I've read and if I liked the author burn myself out on their books by devouring everything I can from them.

 

[soulblade06]

I mean, I don't go out of my way to avoid authors of a particular ethnicity. Generally speaking, I can't even remember the name of an author unless I really like the book(s) - but I do admit that many of ones that immediately come to mind are white, so I guess I need to start reading different books

 

[Kentr_Wrolfsong]

1. I just finished "Nairobi Heat" by Mukama Wa Ngugi of Kenya. About a month ago, I read "Real Cool Killers" by Chester Himes. And last year I read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe.

2. I'm currently reading "Blood of Elves" by Andrzej Sapkowski of Poland. Before that was "Nairobi Heat." Before that, "Southern Seas" by Manuel Vasquez Montalban of Spain. Before that, "The Laughing Policeman" by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo of Sweden. And I have "Brother Kemal" by Jakob Arjouni of Germany sitting on my shelf for when I finish "Blood of Elves."

I read a lot of crime novels.

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

Both questions, one answer with the best book ever written (in my opinion)
The Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas wrote that?!
You learn something new every day.

Yeah, I replace my previous black author thing with Monte Cristo, which I read a week or 2 ago.

 

[adamsaccount]

So if I've only read books by Asian authors am I still racist?

I mean, I don't go out of my way to avoid authors of a particular ethnicity. Generally speaking, I can't even remember the name of an author unless I really like the book(s) - and I will admit that I am guilty of mostly committing white authors to memory such as Patrick Rothfuss and Eoin Colfer to memory.

I mean, I could go out of my way to read a diverse group of books so I can be "cultured" and hipster and all of that, but I don't really see the point. Yes, I imagine some non-white, non-western authors have had trouble breaking into the market, but the same could be said about video game studios. I'm still not going to buy it unless it's been given good reviews and it seems like my kind of thing, in which case I will.

Reading a travel book is almost as good as going to a place, I overheard someone say the other day, and its cheaper too

 

[Queen Michael]

I do have to agree. Prose is just as valid as a novel.

Well, prose is how novels are usually written, so that's kind of a false dichotomy.

 

[Smiley Face]

Well, I've read a hell of a lot of philosophy, and a good deal of it's translated from Ancient Greek or Latin or German. And a good deal of historical documents, translated from the same, or French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, or Japanese. But if we're mot counting those, then I guess it would be the Count of Monte Cristo from French or Crime and Punishment from Russian, and I've got the Witcher series on deck from Polish.

As for a black writer... I don't know. A couple of historical documents here, some journalism there, but not much else as far as I'm aware. Ah, wait, of course, Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo) was black.

 

[Blow_Pop]

I do have to agree. Prose is just as valid as a novel.

Well, prose is how novels are usually written, so that's kind of a false dichotomy.

Not when your country(or maybe it's just my state) teaches that prose is strictly poetry

 

[Frankster]

1) I honestly don't know, I never check the authors unless it's one of those books that has a pic of the author and those are less then 5% of books I've read if that.
Though granted, of those that did have pics, I don't remember a single one being black.

2) War and Peace by Tolstoi? Though then again Russia is hardly a literary wasteland... I remember reading some books by african authors (hey, that might count for question 1! but problem is im not 100% sure they were black due to lack of photos, for all i know they were white africans) in school so this would have been a decade ago ><

As for a black writer... I don't know. A couple of historical documents here, some journalism there, but not much else as far as I'm aware. Ah, wait, of course, Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo) was black.

Really? Ok then I change my answer of question 1 to "6 years ago". It doesn't count for the 2nd question though as french is one of my native languages.

 

[Queen Michael]

I do have to agree. Prose is just as valid as a novel.

Well, prose is how novels are usually written, so that's kind of a false dichotomy.

Not when your country(or maybe it's just my state) teaches that prose is strictly poetry

That would be a state of confusion, then, mate. =)

According to the Merriam-Webster, prose is "a literary medium distinguished from poetry especially by its greater irregularity and variety of rhythm and its closer correspondence to the patterns of everyday speech."

And their short definition is simply "writing that is not poetry." So yeah, quod erat demonstrandum and all that jazz.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I'm one of those people that have read a bunch of books but don't pay much attention to the authors unless I really like the book. Some of the authors I do know and read all their books are Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, Isaac Asimov and J.K. Rowling.

I guess I never read anything written by black authors because I'm mostly into sci-fi fantasies and haven't discover any good sci-fi black authors thus far. I would love if some one can recommend me some though.

As for foreign books I tried reading some chinese classic translated novels but just couldn't get into it because I found the names really confusing, all the xing and xin and xiao just got all mixed up for me.

 

[Queen Michael]

I'm one of those people that have read a bunch of books but don't pay much attention to the authors unless I really like the book. Some of the authors I do know and read all their books are Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, Isaac Asimov and J.K. Rowling.

I guess I never read anything written by black authors because I'm mostly into sci-fi fantasies and haven't discover any good sci-fi black authors thus far. I would love if some one can recommend me some though.

As for foreign books I tried reading some chinese classic translated novels but just couldn't get into it because I found the names really confusing, all the xing and xin and xiao just got all mixed up for me.

Samuel R. Delany's supposed to be both black and good.

And now I'm interested; what were the Chinese novels you tried reading?

 

[Gauntlets28]

I really don't know about the last book written by a black guy. :S Possibly not ever, tbh. Although that could quite easily be because, as everyone else has said, you can't really tell for sure what colour an author is. Not that it really matters, cos I buy based on taste.

Foreign books? Last one was probably Les Liasons Dangereuses. Pretty good book too. Bit hard to read sometimes, but ah well, it's an 18th century french novel, what can ya do?

 

[Pink Gregory]

1 - Chester Himes - Cotton Comes to Harlem, recently.

Probably the weakest of the Harlem novels that I've read (Out of a Rage in Harlem, All Shot Up, The Heat's On and the Real Cool Killers), and he's a one for inelegant prose, but it's just so vivid.

2 - Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea, sometime last year.

I'm currently reading Bertolt Brecht's novelisation of the Threepenny Opera, but I don't know if it's a translation. It's not as good as the play. And I can feel confident in that even not having read the play yet.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I'm one of those people that have read a bunch of books but don't pay much attention to the authors unless I really like the book. Some of the authors I do know and read all their books are Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, Isaac Asimov and J.K. Rowling.

I guess I never read anything written by black authors because I'm mostly into sci-fi fantasies and haven't discover any good sci-fi black authors thus far. I would love if some one can recommend me some though.

As for foreign books I tried reading some chinese classic translated novels but just couldn't get into it because I found the names really confusing, all the xing and xin and xiao just got all mixed up for me.

Samuel R. Delany's supposed to be both black and good.

And now I'm interested; what were the Chinese novels you tried reading?

Dream of a red mansion and journey to the west, maybe the translation was just really bad but I couldn't get through the first page.

 

[SeeDarkly_Xero]

The closest I can claim are the following. I will preface that I don't read outside a specific series or genre often and anything I read (and not listen to by audiobook) takes me a considerably longer time to complete than my peers.

1 - Fort Freak, of George R. R. Martin's Wild Card's series. One of the contributing authors is David Anthony Durham who will return for the next book in the series, Lowball.

2 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (To be fair, not a novel and I didn't complete it as it was an exceptionally difficult read for me, though still interesting.)

 

[WindKnight]

I've read Invader Summer and A Wind Named Amnesia by Hideyuki Kikuchi (translated obviously) though primarilly picked the combo book up as I remembered enjoying the anime version of the latter. By the same token read Metro 2033 after playing the game. Really enjoyed all three.

 

[drummond13]

My answer to both would be "The Count of Monte Christo" by Alexandre Dumas.

This is a very weird topic. I'm not sure what you're trying to say with this. Sounds like you don't know either.

 

[dyre]

1. I don't keep track of the racial identities of the authors of the books I read, but the most recent one I know would be Tony Morrison's Song of Solomon, which was two years ago.

2. Natsume Koseki's Kokoro, last week. Previously; Voltaire's Candide, two months ago. In a non-academic context; Gabriel Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, about six months ago. And this is from a literary Anglophile.

Even though they "don't care about race and never bother to look up what a writer's face looks like." And that says something about our society, though I'm not sure what yet.

Yeah...it's saying that the handful of writers who faces those people have seen includes at least one white writer.
I'm curious, when's the last time you read a book by a Native American author?

This is a very weird topic.

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