My Favorite Book

I'm doing something a little new today. I have always been a big reader. I have been in love with books and the written word since I was a child. Anyone who knows me well, is aware that books take up a lot of space in my apartment and my heart. I read everything! It is not unusual for me to be in a bad mood or even a good mood and be able to trace its origins to the most recent book I read. With that said, I realized that I don't mention books or my favorite authors at all on this blog. Funny that such a large part of my life is never mentioned on here. Well it is time to change that. I'm not sure if I'll add one of those "what I'm reading now" widgets or if I'll just do a regular post on books I like. I've decided to start by telling you all about my favorite book. This is the book I give to people I really like. This is the book I grabbed when evacuating for hurricane Katrina. I forgot the last picture I took with my deceased father here in New Orleans, but I took Kindred. I simply love this book. I've read and gifted this book too many times to count. In the event of fire I would grab, Kindred, Mr. Bunny and my laptop on my way out of the door. (See almost forgot the picture again. I would grab Kindred, Mr. Bunny, laptop, and picture of deceased father) I'm sure by now you understand how much I love it. Now let me tell you why.

The name of the book is Kindred by Octavia Butller. The novel is about a modern (1976) black woman named Dana. She is transported back in time to the slavery era South to save a little boy. This boy turns out to be her ancestor. She is summoned over and over again whenever he, Rufus, is in mortal danger. She must save him to ensure her own eventual existence. Each summoning has her stay longer and longer. Each time she returns her young charge is older and more a product of his time. The book really explores love, hate, race, obsession, cruelty, forgiveness and worst of all fear. The characters are really well developed and Butler is a master when it comes to world building. Reading this book will really give you an understanding of daily life on a plantation. The author doesn't make the slave master's overly cruel or villanous. Instead her point is made in small accepted every day cruelties that made up life in that time. It makes you wonder what choices you would make in a given situation. You see the young boy grow to become a man that still reminds you of the child that steals your heart and compassion at the beginning, while making you dread the man he has become. I don't know how to explain it. Every time I read this book I want to hate him so much, but I never do. I find myself feeling sad for him and the other characters. The author does a really good job of subtly demonstrating a kind of commonality between the so-called good characters and bad-characters.

I can't say enough about how much I love this book. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book.

Something Else

Since I've been sick this week, I've watched a lot of movies.  I have to watch dvd's because I don't have cable and only get two crappy channels.  Soon I'll get no crappy channels if I don't buy a digital converter.  Anyway I digress. 

 So I watched "Something New".  The movie stars Sanaa Latham and  Simon Baker.  Basically Sanaa plays Kenya a workaholic young black woman from an affluent family looking for her IBM. (For those not in the know, IBM= Ideal Black Man).  After being lonely for yet another Valentines Day and fearing becoming  one of the dreaded 44.2 percent she accepts a blind date. (44.2% refers to the number of black women who have never been married according to a much quoted Essence article a few years ago.  )  She vows to be more open and less rigid in her standards for an acceptable man.  Well her blind date turns out to be Brian (Simon Baker) a super cute landscape architect that just happens to be white. oh gasp!!  This is not her idea of open.  So the movie is basically about the two of them navigating an interracial relationship.  And dating white men is presented as "something new" for black women,  an alternative to dating black men that wasn't considered an option before.

I'm here to tell you, I tried something new and it is not new.  Truthfully it is more like something else.  My conclusion is: a man is a man in any color.  I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't what I got.  He still left my toilet seat up when he visited.  He still told ridiculous potty jokes.  He still broke my heart when we parted.(I should have known he wouldn't last because Mr. Bunny never liked him!)  The new was made up of things that had nothing to do with race.  It had more to do with the fact that it was really my first grown up relationship.  Nothing more , nothing less.  The crazy in the relationship had nothing to do with race either.  In fact race was a very small part of the relationship.  Ultimately I picked the same man I usually pick, just in a different color.  Like buying the same great fitting shirt in a couple of colors.  They will fit the same and wear out the same. So a little heads up to my fellow sisters of color:  If you're thinking about starting a relationship with someone of another race in hopes of something new, what you'll get is something else.