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White Girls
White Girls | Hilton Als
16 posts | 12 read | 29 to read
The collected works of New Yorker essayist and critic Hilton Als.White Girls, Hilton Als's first book since The Women fourteen years ago, finds one of The New Yorker's boldest cultural critics deftly weaving together his brilliant analyses of literature, art, and music with fearless insights on race, gender, and history. The result is an extraordinary, complex portrait of "white girls," as Als dubs them-an expansive but precise category that encompasses figures as diverse as Truman Capote and Louise Brooks, Malcolm X and Flannery O'Connor. In pieces that hairpin between critique and meditation, fiction and nonfiction, high culture and low, the theoretical and the deeply personal, Als presents a stunning portrait of a writer by way of his subjects, and an invaluable guide to the culture of our time.
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Bertha_Mason
White Girls | Hilton Als

"For black people, being around white people is sometimes like taking care of babies you don't like, babies who throw up on you again and again, but whom you cannot punish, because they're babies."
-"A Pryor Love"

Weaponxgirl The quotes you are sharing from this are amazing! I‘m convinced, stacked 6y
Bertha_Mason @Weaponxgirl I hope you enjoy it! ☺ 6y
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Bertha_Mason
White Girls | Hilton Als
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-"Philosopher or Dog?"
Als discusses Malcolm X's autobiography.

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Bertha_Mason
White Girls | Hilton Als

The author has convinced me to, reluctantly, take another stab at _Wise Blood_. The first time I tried to read it, it was assigned in AP English Literature at my parochial high school. Maybe I'm finally far enough from the nightmare of my southern catholic upbringing to give Flannery O'Connor a fair hearing this time.

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Bertha_Mason
White Girls | Hilton Als

"O'Connor greatly admired Faulkner....But there is no Faulknerian Snopes in O'Connor's fiction. What she describes is far more evil: the nice lady on the bus who calls you "n[*****]" by offering your child a penny; or the old woman who loves to regale her grandchildren with stories about the "p[**********]s" of her antebellum youth. These are women who wouldn't know grace if it slapped them in the face--which it often does."
-"This Lonesome Place"

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Bertha_Mason
White Girls | Hilton Als

"Race and faith and their attendant hierarchies and delusions are [Flannery] O'Connor's great themes. She was hailed for her artistic and social independence, but readings of this American master often overlook the originality and honesty of her portrayal of Southern whiteness. Or, rather, Southern whiteness as it chafed under its biggest cultural influence--Southern blackness."
-"This Lonesome Place"

review
IReadThereforeIBlog
White Girls | Hilton Als
Pickpick

Hilton Als is a Pulitzer Prize winning critic and an Associate Professor of Writing at Colombia University. In this collection of 13 smart and provocative essays (9 of which were first published in 2013) he tackles such subjects as race, homosexuality, AIDS, memory, Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson and André Leon Talley and although some of it went over my head (mainly due to unfamiliarity with the subject) I enjoyed his insight and passion.

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parttimedomestic
White Girls | Hilton Als
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#LiteralBookends from my Unread/Random Nonfiction Bookshelf.
I‘ve got less than 2 hours left on my #24in48 and I‘m in a weird spot. I‘m tired of the books I‘m reading and not ready to start another. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I‘ll push through somehow!

Whimsical.Curiosity Love these 🤣 6y
44 likes1 comment
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PagesOfKate
White Girls | Hilton Als
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Christmas day booty! #christmasday #Jingleshelves #bookishgifts #ReindeerReads
Hope everyone's having a fun, festive day!

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks You too!! 😘It‘s my daughter‘s 17th birthday!! 7y
38 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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LectricSheep
White Girls | Hilton Als
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My (tentative) reading list for the Dumbledore's Army ReadAThon (+ Homegoing on Kindle)! January 1-15, focusing on #diversereads and #ownvoices. If you want to get a jumpstart on Book Riot Read Harder 2017 or the Litsy Reading Challenge, this is a great way to do it! I just posted about it on my blog if you want more information about it: www.tinyurl.com/jyg8s3s #DAReadAThon #readharder2017 #litsyreadingchallenge2017

B.Reader I am so interested in this! I also have some of your same titles to read. Will have to explore! 8y
Faibka Nice choices! 8y
Beachesnbooks I saw Dumbledore's Army reading challenge and assumed you could only read Harry Potter 😂😂 This sounds great, I'll have to check it out! 8y
LectricSheep @Beachesnbooks 😅 I'm not sure I could do all 7 HP books in 2 weeks. That would be a REAL readathon. 8y
71 likes1 stack add4 comments
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mickeysirena
White Girls | Hilton Als
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"There's the bizarre fact that queerness reads, even to some black gay men themselves, as a kind of whiteness." Hmmm....... #amreading #takingnotes #excusemyhandwriting

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mickeysirena
White Girls | Hilton Als
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Everytime I open this book I discover a new writer, or movie director, or musician that sounds interesting to me. Anybody know anything about Bruce Nugent?

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Susannah
White Girls | Hilton Als
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I've listened to the first four sections of this on audiobook, and my reactions have been all over the place. I'm confused, I'm intrigued, I'm alienated, I'm ready to stop listening, I can't stop listening. I think it'll probably take a while, and I might not be able to tell you what I thought of it when I'm done, but I'll definitely finish it. (Wonderfully apt graphic by Kevin Thomas, TheRumpus.com.)

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nora_reads
White Girls | Hilton Als
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Continuing on the path to being #woke with this gem

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cari_luna
White Girls | Hilton Als
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Tonight's edition of Reading Outside My Daughter's Door Until She Falls Asleep

4 likes1 stack add
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Elissa
White Girls | Hilton Als
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I took off its cover.

Kenny One of my favorite books. I lost my hardcover and I am always sad about it. 9y
Kenny The paperback is nice too. But the hardcover! 9y
Elissa I almost lost the hardcover in a breakup! It came back to me in an envelope sent to my work office. Such a relief. 9y
6 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Kenny
White Girls | Hilton Als
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Today Herbert is only reading brilliant commentary on the intersection of race and culture that matches his outfit.

19 likes4 stack adds2 comments