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Distracting myself from my increasing sense of doom by mixing in some reading with my election viewing. This is my first Percival Everett, and I love it just as much as I thought I would. If nothing else, maybe tonight has given me a new favorite author (a pretty thin silver lining, admittedly 😕).

Finished reading this book on my porch on an unexpectedly warm day. Written in 2001, it‘s the story behind the movie American Fiction. It‘s wonderful that Everett is being read now. I haven‘t seen the movie and had a very different idea of what the story would be. Not only does it address racism, it deals with family traumas, a family member with dementia, death, and money. It has Everett‘s humor and very sharp insights throughout.

I took pictures last night of my #FFFS gift, but then started watching the debate and completely forgot to post! I am so sorry!! What a delightful package to open; beautiful leaves and adorable paper! You must have been sleuthing! I loved James by Percival Everett and I‘ve been so eager to read Erasure since I watched American Fiction! Thank you so much! And all of the sweet additions! Just lovely!!
🍁☕️🍁🍫🍁📚🍁

My first by this author, inspired by The NY Times list. But it won‘t be the last one I read of his. I need to explore his back list! While I understand why he included the entire “ghetto novel” (and repeated bits of it!) I wished I could have skimmed it. But the narration was strong and the writing superb. Highly recommended.

#SchoolSpirit #September #Day1 #Teacher
The protagonist of this book is an English lecturer,so it fits!Profound,witty and excellently written,do read this book about some writers getting pigeonholed into niches they don't want. Then watch American Fiction, the movie adaptation that's as good. @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @eggs

The narrator,an award winning writer&professor,not commercially successful,moves in with his aging mother.He writes a novel,a parody,under a pseudonym, it becomes a bestseller but is racist,full of stereotypes.Erasure is a recurring theme in the book: through loss of life,mind,family,self.The novel is a satire, making fun of academia &publishing. But this is also the story of a family& how they deal with loss&loneliness.Funny & thought provoking

It's been a while since I've done any Metal Earth models. I started this today while watching American Fiction, which is an adaptation of the tagged book. Very good movie. I always enjoy Jeffrey Wright, and it was cool to see Erika Alexander, who I know from my wife watching Living Single re-runs 😁

As much as I disagreed with the NYT best books of the century list, it did highlight some gaps in my reading! Jumped into Erasure, loved the vast majority of it. The Stagg R Leigh novel in the middle is kind of unbearable and I know that‘s the point but it was such a slog to get through in an otherwise engrossing book. (The postmodern paper was equally unbearable but it didn‘t drag on as long at least.)

I started this on the treadmill this morning and while I like the narrator‘s sonorous bass voice, it‘s sometimes hard to hear over the treadmill noise. I may have to use ear buds on this one!

My NYT Best 100 Books of the Century reads. There are quite a few on the list I have no interest in. 😂 The tagged book is my favorite.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Monk isn‘t likeable. I skipped his horrible Foucault paper- It gave me flashbacks to my degree. He had great ideas, just often impenetrable and pompous. The same with this book..it‘s so painfully post post-modern it disappears up its own arse. For the same observations but without the self conscious irony, Chris Rock‘s movie CB4 is very funny. The blurb on the back has one person gushing that the novel is “seminal”. Maybe when it was released.

Read this as I want to Watch American Fiction, and it resonated with bookish me fiercely. I admit, like Monk, I‘m a book snob for the most part - I like well written stuff and get so tired of reading umpteen variations on a theme when one type of book starts to trend. I hate that types of books TREND. Goodness, I‘m a book curmudgeon.
But I did love this book.
Irony: Recently watched the video of WaPo‘s Ron Charles interviewing Everett ⬇️

Very clever and superb prose. I'm not sure I understood some of the interwoven dialogue...
I liked his relationship with his mother, and the backwsrd glimpses of early life.

Next up for my movie/book club.

This book, IMO, is perfect! 10/10. Definitely going to make an effort to read more of Everett‘s writing and I‘m going to try to watch American Fiction tonight. *It‘s not “new” just a newly purchased library copy 😉

Funny and devastating. I loved this satirical look at the intersection between race and literary culture in the USA. Audiobook superbly performed by Sean Crisden.

It was the season of the absent or lazy editor. So many of the novels were needlessly fat.

I talk about books on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/-3_uqx3eiF4

#PoetryMonth #TransGirlApril #PeopleApril #PictureThis2024 #Indigenous #Queer #WomenInTranslation #audiobooks #kidlit

Um, I'm sorry, this novel is genius. I was cackling throughout and cannot wait to read more from Everett.

The middle section (Stagg's novel) was kinda miserable to get through but Everett writing and including it in the text of Erasure is just so funny. Absolutely brilliant send up of the publishing industry and racial discourseTM.

I‘m struggling with the print on this book. It‘s very light AND small. Yet the page is quite large. It‘s really annoying me. And the ebook has a 10 week hold through the library 😩

Thelonius “Monk” Ellison is a black American writing intricate and philosophical novels, and not fitting the themes for a black person to write about. For fun and as a parody he writes the ultimate black novel under a pseudonym and everyone loves it. What is a man to do when everyone wants to meet him?

At the same time his mother‘s memory is fading fast. His brother has his own issues. And has his deceased father hidden something from everyone?

My third book by Everett and I need to read everything he has written as soon as possible.

Cerebral, sharp, funny, devastating. I'm looking forward to watching the movie, and am thankful that it brought this author to my attention.

I‘m about to start the tagged and this is why meets me - a list of Mr Everett‘s previous novels and the only one I‘ve read, The Threes, isn‘t even mentioned.

I‘m glad he has an extensive backlist in case he turns out to be a new favorite author

You can rent American Fiction on Amazon Prime aka the evil empire. WOW , this was a wonderful film! And no , ashamed to say I haven‘t read the book.

My initial thoughts on this book are that it‘s very smart (I wish I was in high school and my teacher could explain some of the symbolisms because I know a lot went over my head), it‘s extremely thought-provoking and is indeed “quietly devastating”. If I owned the copy I read there would be many underlined quotes and notes written in the margins, Everett truly has a gift for the written word.

Indeed, the wait is over. 🤗

I didn‘t know the Oscar nominated film American Fiction was adapted from this novel but I‘ll have to watch it once I‘ve finished the book.

Sly, lots of digs at both commercial & academic publishing, inventive dialogue between artists (Joyce & Wilde, Rauschenberg & de Kooning). What is radical art? What is new narrative territory? What is a Black story? 2001

P155 “epiphanies are like spicy foods: coming back, coming back.”

P2 “I told him that I was living a black life, far blacker than he could ever know, that I had lived one, that I would be living one.”

Intense

Saw this last night and greatly enjoyed it. It really makes one ponder about America's obsession with black trauma and how America does not listen to all the different perspectives of black lives. I hope to read the book this movie is based on some day. Have you seen this movie?

@rachelsbrittain - my #weekendreads are Erasure (tagged) on audio, and I'm debating between my #bookspin (The Paper Menagerie and other stories by Ken Liu) and #doublespin (A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas) for my next physical book. The movie made from Erasure, American Fiction, is the movie I'm most excited to see right now, based on how much I'm enjoying the book.

Oh wow, I‘ve got to read more by Percival Everett! I picked this audio up because I kept seeing references to the new film adaptation from the novel titled “American Fiction”. Thelonius, “Monk” is a published author, professor and all around academic. He thinks highly of his work but it has not taken off. He writes a “ghetto story”, which totally blows up. Add in an ailing mother and complicated family dynamics and we have a great read.

I thought this was really great! My first Everett. Biting, disturbing, but with characters I cared about. Probably should have chosen The Trees from @Deblovestoread ‘s #AuldLangSpine list, but of course I couldn‘t resist this one because of the movie. But I absolutely hope to read The Trees and other Everett titles soon. EXCELLENT audio narration by Sean Crisden.

Erasure looks both at the publishing industry and our greater society, examining people and race and what stories we want different people to tell. It‘s Everett, so it‘s brilliant, of course. Our discourse is ready for this book now, though it published back in 2001–he is WAY ahead of us!

With the arrival of the movie adaption, "American Fiction", I knew I wanted to read the original story prior to viewing and I am so glad I did. I was not prepared for how much I loved this novel. This may be one of the best satires I have ever read, but also includes family drama and a clear eyed view of the publishing industry in general.

Why Percival Everett is not one of the biggest names in literature is beyond me. The man is a genius and I‘m basing that on the TWO books I‘ve read. I‘m thrilled that I have such an extensive backlist to savor. No one does satire better.

This is my second Percival Everett in as many weeks. I‘ve loved them both. I can‘t wait to see American Fiction. Jeffrey Wright is perfectly cast 🙂

Woot! My second Everett and I loved it. He gives the reader a lot to think about, which I love in a novel. It begs the question about stereotype representation, in this case within the book publishing world, and of course society as a whole. This novel is about the burden and injustice of it. It‘s akin to the troubling issue of poverty tourism.

Is Monk, the MC, a sell-out or erased?🤔

I‘m so glad I have more of Everett‘s backlist to read.

Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a critically acclaimed but little read writer, an awkward intellectual who never quite fits in. When he can't sell his new book because it's "not black enough," he writes a dialect-heavy, stereotype riddled parody--which is wildly successful. Meanwhile, his mother is losing her hold on reality. I wanted to read this before the movie American Fiction comes out--it will be interesting to see how close it is to the book.

Some of my favorite fiction from year. Absolutely loved the scathing, yet hilarious, Erasure. Can‘t wait to see the movie!

Everett is a genius! This witty satire takes aim at the publishing industry brilliantly. An erudite author has to leave his professorship to care for his mother with Alzheimer‘s. He can‘t stand the new bestseller by another Black author written in pidgin. So knocking about with nothing to do, he writes an even worse one of his own, and things get even crazier from there. Wonderful side plots as well! That cover, too! 😳

This is an interesting collage of a novel, I picked it up because the movie trailer looks fantastic. In the trailer an author sees a Black woman gets a ton of money for a "ghetto" book and he tries his hand. The book is more about Monks family. I didn't love how bits of this novel were random conversations of characters not in the book, and a huge chunk is bits and pieces of the "author's" novels. Overall I enjoyed this though.

Well this one is easy, since our main character is named for Thelonious Monk!

I have been listing to him and I think Monk‘s Dream (Take 8) fits the vibe of the book best.

#booknotes @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

“My journal is a private affair, but as I cannot know the
time of my coming death, and since I am not disposed,
however unfortunately, to the serious consideration
of self-termination, I am afraid that others will see these pages.“

Getting this one read before the movie comes out!

#firstlinefriday @shybookowl

"Okay, I've got one for you. You're in a boat and your motor cuts out, but you are in shallow water, but you're wearing two hundred dollar trousers, but your ride to the airport is just about to drive away from the beach. Why is this a legal issue?"

"Linda was already in the bar when I arrived. She wrapped me up in a hug and I remembered how much like a bicycle she had felt in bed."

WHAT?? I had to read this multiple times....how does one feel like a bicycle during sex? ?.
Is he saying she is easy to get back on? How rude? Maybe? ?

Has anyone else seen the trailer for this film? Seems like it would be a great companion piece to Yellowface. I miss seeing interesting films in the theater - they seem so few these days - so I‘m really looking forward to this one.

#BookReport 10/23

I read these two books and enjoyed both. Both authors are among my favorites!