When's the last time you read books like these?
- Thread starter Queen Michael
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A black writer? Why not an Indian writer, an Arab writer, or a specifically Nigerian writer? For specifically a black writer, no idea. I read many books, including a fair few self-published ones on Kindle of which I know nearly nothing about the author.
As for a translated book... probably a bit of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, originally written in Latin/Greek.
As for a translated book... probably a bit of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, originally written in Latin/Greek.
I guess the last one that fills the 2nd criteria would be "Romance of Three Kingdoms". I think there was some translation trouble as the poetry has no rhyming, rhythm, or even a noticeable pattern.
Can't remember the title of the one that fills (1). I think it was a biographical fiction or something.
Can't remember the title of the one that fills (1). I think it was a biographical fiction or something.
I read mostly online.
People don't have a habit of posting their faces with their random fan fiction or stories.
I know the faces of 3 authors the books of whom I've actually read. I really don't give a damn.
The vast majority of online stories were already written in English.
The last translated book was The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, which I read in Finnish, translated from Swedish.
I read less then 4 real books per year. I honestly don't have the slightest which was written by a black man, but 2 were not.
People don't have a habit of posting their faces with their random fan fiction or stories.
I know the faces of 3 authors the books of whom I've actually read. I really don't give a damn.
The vast majority of online stories were already written in English.
The last translated book was The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, which I read in Finnish, translated from Swedish.
I read less then 4 real books per year. I honestly don't have the slightest which was written by a black man, but 2 were not.
Well said.drummond13 said:
I'm not sure what the OP is getting at? Am I supposed to be secretly racist because I don't know or care for the race of the authors of the books I read?
And to answer the OP, I don't know. I haven't read any Dumas, but then again, I didn't know he was black. I also only found out JK Rowling was female because they kept reporting about her during the Harry Potter madness.
I only know the race of the author when they throw it in my face with random stuff like the extra content on the Game of Thrones blurays. And even then, I rarely remember. I genuinely don't care either way.
As for foreign, I would have to go with The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest a couple of years ago.
I'd turn that around and ask why on earth would you want to find out more?Zen Bard said:
For me, the less I know about the author the better. I don't even like it when there's a photo on the dust jacket. I don't want my interpretation and experience of the book to be in any way influenced by knowledge or assumptions about the author and their life/beliefs/actions. If the book has a message, it should come through in the work itself without me having to look up what "drives" the author.
Plus, especially as far as fantasy and science fiction goes, books are escapism for me. I want to get lost in another reality, I want to believe it's real. Knowing too much about the author (or even acknowledging their existence) can spoil the magic.
I guess it's a personal thing though. Honestly, I never really thought about it much before this thread.
Fair enough. There's definitely validity wanting to have an unfiltered connection between the reader and material.Eamar said:I'd turn that around and ask why on earth would you want to find out more?Zen Bard said:
For me, the less I know about the author the better. I don't even like it when there's a photo on the dust jacket. I don't want my interpretation and experience of the book to be in any way influenced by knowledge or assumptions about the author and their life/beliefs/actions. If the book has a message, it should come through in the work itself without me having to look up what "drives" the author.
Plus, especially as far as fantasy and science fiction goes, books are escapism for me. I want to get lost in another reality, I want to believe it's real. Knowing too much about the author (or even acknowledging their existence) can spoil the magic.
I guess it's a personal thing though. Honestly, I never really thought about it much before this thread.
I guess I'm just a student of the creative process (since I'm a frustrated writer myself). The genesis of ideas absolutely fascinates me. So I wanted to know just how Michael Moorcock came up with "Elric of Melnibone' " or what particular narcotic Phillip K. Dick was using when he wrote some of his seminal works.
And while I agree that knowing too much about and author can definitely "spoil the magic", truly good literature should be able to stand on its own regardless.
For example, H.P. Lovecraft's work is still among my all-time favorite reads, even though I know the author was an elitist, racist snob.
But like you said...it's a personal thing.
I have no idea who the colour or ethnicity of the people that writes the books i read. Its a non issue, i just pick up titles that sound like a fun read. Though i think calling some one "a black author" instead of an "author" is stupid, there skin colour has nothing to do with their writing.
1. I'm actually not sure if I've ever read a book by a black author. Like most people in the thread, I don't really pay attention to the author's race etc.
2. I haven't read any translated works in years. Then again, I have been reading pretty much only Stephen King and Terry Pratchett, with a little Murakami on the side for the last year and a half.
2. I haven't read any translated works in years. Then again, I have been reading pretty much only Stephen King and Terry Pratchett, with a little Murakami on the side for the last year and a half.
Is the book really that good? I might give it a try, then. I understand a lot of interesting things were detailed in the book but not the games, such as the phenomena surrounding the Kremlin and the inhabitants of certain stations thus far unexplored in the games. I wasn't sure about his writing style, but the subject matter enthralls me.Padwolf said:
OT: I can't name anything I've read by a black person, but then I rarely look up photographs of the author either. I only really recognize them by name or maybe writing style. Oh, wait a minute - Chinua Achebe, who we studied once as part of a course. He wrote a book called Things Fall Apart - a sad story from a sad period. I suppose that counts for both.
It's really good, I wasn't too sure about his writing style at first either, but it really grew on me. It's worth a read! I find the subject matter great too, I love books like it. Yeah, there are quite a few things the game didn't go into, I won't spoil anything, but give it a go!Barbas said:
Great, thanks! I've been getting a little bored of digging up old yellowing books from the corners of the house and kicking up dust devils. I look forward to getting stuck into a new book for a change.Padwolf said:
OT: Oh, there's another, actually: The Long Walk, an account by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in a Siberian Gulag. He and his friends allegedly escaped in 1941 and walked to India. Details are sketchy - some are contradictory and others cannot be verified, but it does all make for quite the story.
Don't think I've ever read anything by a black writer but I have read the Night Watch series by the Russian Sergei Lukyanenko.
1. I read _Let It Go_, by T.D. Jakes in July 2013; I've got an anthology of African-American writers on my shelf that I plan to read in the next couple of months, once I work through the two series of dead white authors that I am currently reading.Queen Michael said:
2. I read _The Epic of Gilgamesh_ in February 2014. If you aren't going to count that, I read _The Essential Kabbalah: the Heart of Jewish Mysticism_ also in February 2014. I'm a fan of Umberto Eco and plan on catching up with him soon.
I hope that helps.
Honestly it's more about the lack of famous black authors than anything else, and unless they're really famous or have their picture on the cover sleeve somewhere, or have a really ghetto name, we don't know. Heck the only reason I knew Alexander Dumas was black was because I was told so when I watched Django. I knew he was french, I did not know his race.Queen Michael said:
I know some authors are white mainly because they're famous enough that I've seen their picture(GRRM, Pratchet, Tolkien, and a few others), or it's on the cover sleeve, or in three cases, because I've read their blogs(Marko Kloos, Peter Grant, and Larry Correia). I've read hundreds of authors and couldn't tell you what race more than maybe a dozen are. I've read at least one book with a black protagonist though, The Great Thirst, by William Duggan(takes place in south africa during the Boer War era, and the main protagonist is the greatest hero of a small tribe at the edge of the kalahari desert, the author is white however).
Most of the 1k+ books I've read are in the Fantasy and Sci-fi genres, and there's not that many black authors there. The city library where I live doesn't stock a single one that I'm aware of(at least in the english language section), or I'd have already read it.
Heck after seeing this topic I went googling for them online and didn't really find any I recognized, and there really aren't that many, and most of those that exist are recent and unknown, with a couple of exceptions, that I still hadn't heard about.
I did find this though: http://contentinfantasy.blogspot.se/2013/04/black-authors-writing-fantasywhere-are.html
Closest I can think of for #1 is Michael Ondaatje who wrote Anil's Ghost. He's not black really but he's from Sri Lanka and is not "white". Not sure why that matters though
For #2 it'd be the first Witcher novel that I read by Andrzej Sapkowski. Written in Polish translated to english.
For #2 it'd be the first Witcher novel that I read by Andrzej Sapkowski. Written in Polish translated to english.
1. I would of said Invisible man but since that doesn't count for some asinine reason I will say the Autobiography of Malcolm X which was like 5 years ago.
2. I'm currently reading The Millennium Trilogy but if that is too mainstream for you I also read Don Quixote and of course The Bible.
2. I'm currently reading The Millennium Trilogy but if that is too mainstream for you I also read Don Quixote and of course The Bible.
I'm a big fan of the Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I also recently picked up a book called the Map of the Sky which I also discovered was translated from Spanish.
I also started a book called Usurper of the Sun, which is a translated Japanese light novel. I read a lot of manga too if that counts. Japan produces a ton of books but they don't get translated too often unless they're the type that are deemed to have "literary value." This seems to be changing now though, Viz Media has their own book publishing branch and the upcoming Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow is actually based on a light novel called All You Need is Kill.
I also started a book called Usurper of the Sun, which is a translated Japanese light novel. I read a lot of manga too if that counts. Japan produces a ton of books but they don't get translated too often unless they're the type that are deemed to have "literary value." This seems to be changing now though, Viz Media has their own book publishing branch and the upcoming Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow is actually based on a light novel called All You Need is Kill.