This week, I started reading Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, whose protagonist is a 15-year-old autistic boy. So far it’s really great. I’m liking it a lot.
As for recommendations, this week I’m recommending Michelle Cliff’s No Telephone to Heaven. I first read it over a decade ago, and I’ve reread it several times since, and each time I read it, I get more out of it. Cliff is a great writer, and the story compelling. The main character is a Jamaican immigrant called Clare Savage, whose father encourages her to try to “pass” as white, causing all kinds of drama as she finds she fits into neither the black nor white communities wholly. Later, she returns to Jamaica, where she becomes embroiled with radical political activists…
Reading that back, I’m not sure that’s a great sell, but I don’t want to give too much away. My first reading of the book, I knew nothing about it, and the surprise of it was part of why it stuck with me so, I think.
The themes of community, self-identity, and political activism will no doubt resonate with anyone who spends enough time here to regard my recommendations with the remotest interest.
Has anyone picked up Flashman yet?
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