Reading Notes

February is off to a good start! I've already finished two books and plan to do some reading in honor of Black History Month in the coming weeks. I have The Autobiography of Malcolm X and The Confessions of Nat Turner waiting their turn, while I've already started The Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin and Native Son.

I chose the annotated edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin, because I'm hoping to obtain a deeper understanding of the book. I've never read it before, so my current knowledge of it is superficial. I'm barely into it, so I'll let you know what I think of it when I have more under my belt. As of now, I love all the pictures and sidenotes, and I think I'm going to be happy with my choice.

I started listening to Native Son by Richard Wright a couple days ago. It's my commute audiobook. I'm four discs into it, and it has been a long time since a book had me so tense. Bigger Thomas' ceaseless anger is palpable and he literally makes me nervous. The scene in which the murder occurs was astonishingly intense for someone like me who reads serial killer novels with barely the batting of an eye. It was like watching the proverbial train wreck. I wanted to look away, and I couldn't. I was mortified at his actions and felt supremely sorry for him at the same time. Very surreal.

I'm also back at The Faerie Queene. Book II starts with a bang! Deception and suicide in Canto I. No lack of action here!

There is one other book going at this time, an F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'm going to hold my thoughts on that one for a little while except to say he does know how to paint a vivid picture!

Happy Reading, Everyone!