Welcome to Litsy!

I got to a good start on #JumpStartSummer by not being able to sleep last night 🙄 and finishing Erasure. (Full disclosure: I skipped most of the story-within-a-story, and feel completely justified. 😂)

This was so much more than its main plot description... bitter and satiric yes, but also very quietly human and deeply sad.

#AuthorAMonth

I‘m starting this book tonight, my fourth for #authoramonth this month

@Soubhiville

What first struck me about this novel about art getting out of hand was how quickly I felt close to the characters. There's an event near the beginning that's foreshadowed clearly, but still it felt like a blow when it came because I had connected with the characters so much already. I listened to part of the novel in the car and found myself self-consciously turning down the volume at stop lights. (Guess which section that was.) #authoramonth

#WeeklyFavorites @Read4life

A satirical story of racism. I enjoyed the parts about his family and himself. Parts were not really of any interest. 4/5⭐️

Excellent. Some parts I was not sure about….but I loved the part about his family and himself.

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

1. After I was reading my Kindle in bed and dropped it on my nose when I fell asleep, I mostly stick to reading while sitting!

2. I‘m just starting this today, so I‘ll let you know…

#two4tuesday

1. Sitting…I have a reading chair.
2. I‘m reading the tagged book. Initial thoughts? It‘s so well written. I am going to enjoy this one.

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

Not to say I didn‘t like the book (and Everett is one of my favorite authors), but this is one of those rare cases where I may have liked the movie more. 😱 (“American Fiction”)

Percival Everett. F-word! (IYKYK) What a talent. If you‘ve seen the movie, this is just a sweet ride to the transfer of written word to film. If you prefer to read-the-book-before-the-movie 🎥 ALL GOOD. #Apr2025 Book34

Just wanted to post a quote! 😂 This whole paragraph is full of interesting thoughts…

Bought this today. Am hiding in a bar reading this book drinking a beer. 🍺 #sigh

This was a hard book to read and an even harder book to enjoy. It‘s satire that borders on tragedy. I laughed at times, but I‘ve never read characters more lonely. Monk has no community, a strained family life, and is uncomfortable with his identity and society‘s expectations of what kind of man his race makes him. In a fit of anger, he changes his narrative only to discover selling out himself and his culture only enhances his loneliness.

I broke a personal, albeit cardinal rule of mine: read the book first. When I saw the movie American Fiction I wasn't aware that it was based on a book at all. I am so glad I broke this rule of mine because Erasure is one of the best books I have read in years. It's a meta-literary delight. A book for writers, even.

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.