Have you ever spent an evening curled up with a good book and been in heaven. It cant replace a women or seeing Reggie Bush destroy people on football field. But in terms of creating joy and pleaser for humans books are right up thier with love, sex, sport and music.
Oh and let me be up front right now although I love basket ball, foot ball, boxing ect. I do have some nerd tendecies such as my love for reading, debating and learning.
I like learning and the fundemental principle of learning is reading. Reading has been a passion of mine for over 25 years. My journey through the universes contained in books has been equal to almost all other expierences in my life. Reading has illuminating all other expirences I have had.
Oh yeah I take reading persoanally, passionately and seriously and each book gets the 60 to 100 hundred page treatment. Which simply means that Ill give an author 60 to 100 pages to give me the fix that a good should or I retire it to the bookshelf
Ill never make the mistake of reading a book 500 hundred pages or more and not enjoying it again, not even for steven king (although he did get me with a 900 page boring a@s book once). After going through this about 10 or so times over the years I was left with no option but to enact the 60 to 100 page rule.
As far as I can remember the first book I remember using this treatment on is Toni Morrisons beloved. After reading about 100 pages and not understanding what was going on the final straw came when I found out that beloved was not a real person but a ghost going around bothering people I became disgusted and gave Beloved the treatment. Oh in case you dont think I gave her a fair chance I also tried to read Jazz and once again I had no idea of what was going on, Toni Morrison is a little to abstract for my taste but I did love Beloved as a movie.
I have no idea why I love to read so much because no one else in my household read books. In fact folks would look at me crazy when I would bring my book to the basketball court, or with me going to the movie theater I always had a book with me. I do remember however that in the 5th grade my teacher (mrs. Johson who I wasnt too keen on) made me take some books home right before school ended that year inspite of my whining.
Eventuall one sumerday when it was raining and I was trapped inside the house I pulled out one of those books that Mrs. Johson made me take home, I remember enjoying those books a whole lot.
Later on in life I began to read many books by and about black history and black authors and now I happen to believe that some of the black authors have a voice that is uniquely artistic and powerful. Some of the black authors are telling stories that only we can tell and they deffinately need to be supported more by the black community.
One of my examples would be a book called standing at the scratch line by Maya Angelos son Guy Johnson. I couldnt wait to get my hands on that book because I love the history of world war one and that time period in general. Come to think of it I really enjoyed Maya Angelos books as well and that may be the only mother and son authorship team I have ever read.
I think you can really hear the richness of the african american storytellers by listening to books on tape they are magnifecent. Anyway I just wanted to express my love for reading and thank you for tolerating this post.
1) Best writer of all time Stephen king
2) Best book Ive read " It" Stephen king
3) Books Ive read the most The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Louis Armstrong (copy and past into browser to hear audio recording of autobiography of louis armstrong C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner\My Documents\My Music\Various Artists\blackhp\01 tsatch1.mp3)Eyes of the Dragon Steve King, the color purple alice walker, all gods dangers the life and adventures of Nate Shaw
4) Authors Im feeling Bernice McFadden, diane Mckinney Whetstone and many many others
5) Favorite topics Black histor, history, animals, science, religion,ect
6) Books that made me stay up all night reading
they came before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima literally keep me up all night, various books about malcolm x
11 comments:
LOL@Mark. I love the 60-100 page rule.
what Stephen King book was boring. I'm a huge fan of his work.
By the way, you may want to check out the blog's own Lolita FIles.
www.lolitafiles.com
Her books are fantastic and if im sure you wouldnt be able to put any of them down.
SHe always has opening lines that will have you going...."dang".
I agree wholeheartedly about supporting black authors.
Keep doing your thing brah. See ya around the blogs today.
Peace
"LOL@Mark. I love the 60-100 page rule."
mark bey: Thank you for reading this post.
Steven king got me with
The Stand
Black House
The Tommyknockers those are the ones that got me on the 60-100 page treatment steven king's (though I love em) books are too long.
It was my favorite book of all time it scared the hell out of me.
hey dude, ok...I've got this weird thing about reading...LOL. I used to LOVE reading Stephen King, the first thing I've read from him was Thinner...and I loved that book. Now, I only like reading books about the movement like stuff from W.E.B, Richard Wright and so on...and I LOVE poetry books...Nikki, Langston...you know the greats.
I've never stayed up all night reading ANYTHING... and I can ususlly only read like 5 pages before I fall asleep...lol, I've got to step my game up.
I was cracking up on what you said about Beloved.
I read Jazz, I didn't like it. I didn't think it abstract, just predictable. I remember being angry when I finished it, like I had wasted my time.I had read Sula before and liked it. I can't argue the reasons it been so long ago I hardly remember any details only that the characters were familiar.
" I read Jazz, I didn't like it. I didn't think it abstract, just predictable."
mark bey: Maybe abstract wasnt the right word but it was wierd and so was beloved. But I gave her a fair chance and Ill never make the same mistake again.
Q JMW
"Now, I only like reading books about the movement like stuff from W.E.B, Richard Wright and so on..."
mark bey: That is mostly what I read about now also(books relating to african americans and our struggle). Also from the quality of your writing and your comments
I would suspect that you do a lot of reading, listening to the news and other sorts of ways to fire your brain. Thank you for stopping by JMW.
hey mark: just wanted to give a special saturday hello.
I, too, love reading and it was Beloved for me, too, that taught me to stop reading when I realized that a book just wasn't for me. I stopped reading when the woman's son tried to crawl back up into her womb, so she lit him on fire. (It's been a lot of years, but that's how I remember it.) Maybe it was a "100 Years of Solitude" kind of surreal book where none of the accounts were to be taken literally? Whatever!
My favorite read-all-night-until-I-get-to-the-end authors are E. Lynn Harris and (not because I'm a gay professional football player) and Walter Mosely (but not because I'm a Black WWII vet who lives in LA and works as a private detective.) I just love good fiction about the real lives of Black people, and man can these two men write!
When I want a new book in English, I have to order it from Amazon and wait until it arrives in Brazil by mail. The best two books I've bought that way recently are "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," the former being the more compelling read, in my opinion. But I finished them both, 400 pages each, in a couple of days each they're that good.
I particularly have to say that I love reading autobiographies about Black men who have overcome barriers to succeed, and "Dreams of My Father" is probably the best book I have ever read of that genre.
Randall Robinson's "Quitting America" is pretty relevant and compelling to me, too. It's another cover-to-cover read.
" I particularly have to say that I love reading autobiographies about Black men.
I share this sentiment. These are some of the ones I have read and I benifit from all of them.
Malcolm X
Adam Clayton Powell Sr
Nate Love
Bobby Seale
Clevland Sellers
George Jackson
Booker T Washington
Miles Davis
Those are some of the ones I have read and I gain inspiration from them any day.
just a sunday afternoon shout out to you mark...
thanks for being a source of good information and a welcome calming presence on my blog site.
Thank you DC although I didnt know I was a calming presence anywhere, I hope you are enjoying the game.
Im rooting for your cavaliers against detriot.
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