reading list: jan - march 2024

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights. London: T.C. Newby, 1847. This is a great story. The structure is delightful; the characters are well-drawn and interesting. Its reputation is well-earned. Yet is it a love story? ghost story? morality tale? Does it have a happy ending? Yes. Ytasha Womack, Afrofuturism. Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 2013. Some of my favorite artists -- George Clinton and Octavia Butler, among others -- are catagorized as “Afro-Futurists”, so I wanted to know a little more about what that term means. This easy to read summary provides a nice introduction, discussing the movement’s origins (basically, a need for Black folk to see themselves in the future, too) and prime movers, the movement’s role in the broader culture, and its importance as a driver of change, as well as some major artists and their themes. It would be a good edition to any high school or undergrad literary theory collection. Margaret Walker, Jubilee. Boston: Mariner, 2016. Jubilee is the Walker family history, obviously fictionalized, but ultimately as honest and accurate as any oral history. It follows Vyry, born a slave in Georgia, through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Henry Arron and Lonnie Wheeler, I Had a Hammer. NY: Harper Collins, 1991. Better than I expected, like Aaron himself, this auto/biography is skillfully woven from Wheeler’s historical narrative, Aaron’s well-ordered recollections, and inter-spliced bits from Wheeler’s interviews. While never getting too deep into the very private Aaron’s thoughts and motivations, we follow along from the streets of Mobile to the platform at Cooperstown. While the focus is obviously baseball, Aaron’s commitment to the civil rights movement and improving both the game and the world are an important aspect of his life that is, unless called out as it rightly is here, too easily forgotten among his many batting records. Walter Maranville, Run, Rabbit, Run. Cleveland: SABR, 1991. The Hall of Fame shortstop made some notes on his career with an eye toward autobiography, but didn’t get to finish the project. Years later, though, someone found his notes.