I recently read Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin for One Book, One Chicago. I haven't actually meet anyone else in the city who read or is reading the book, not even so much as a passer-by on the train, which is a shame. Because it's a brilliant novel. The heart of the story takes place on the main character, John Grime's, 14th birthday. Each section flashes back to an earlier time in the life of John's elders, the very people who are shaping his own life. The stories are heartbreaking, particularly when you know that Baldwin admitted to the book being a sort of biography of his own life. Langston Hughes summed the novel and Baldwin's writing perfectly when he said, Baldwin "is thought-provoking, tantalizing, irritating, abusing and amusing. And he uses words as the sea uses waves, to flow and beat, advance and retreat, rise and take a bow in disappearing...the thought becomes poetry and the poetry illuminates the thought." Damn. I would love to read another one of his books, but he has quite a few, does anyone have any recommendations for me?One last piece of good news, Go Tell It On The Mountain was Baldwin's first novel, published at the age of 30. This means all you slacker's out there who didn't live up to Keats still have a chance of writing the great American novel.
4 comments:
"We all know how old beethoven was when he did all that."
"yeah, like one."
"right. and Keats...Keats was DEAD by 24!"
Are you enjoying Umberto Eco? So many annoying people have recommended this book that I don't want to read it, even though everyone says it's great.
I guess annoying people are an occupational hazard when you're a future librarian...
Honestly, I committed to reading so many books that I really didn't start reading Eco until this week. That said, I've read the first section and it really picking up, I found that after I reached about 40 pages I started getting into it. If you have time, it probably worth reading.
I would suggest these Baldwin fiction titles: Giovanni's Room, Just Above My Head and If Beale Street Could Talk. You also should check out his non-fiction essays and interviews (on YouTube). He was an interesting man whose vision was almost prophetic.
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