2015 has turned out to be a wondrous year of reading for me. I even challenged myself by reading literary forms I usually ignore, such as poetry (Langston Hughes, Lorca) and plays (Lorca’s Spanish tragedies, Wole Soyinka’s thoughtful work, Walcott’s Haiti-inspired Caribbean dramas). Of course, my bias in favor of the novel determined most of my reading habits this year. Naipaul, both Shiva and Vidia, provided more than enough novels to provoke my rage. Sam Selvon, the humorous Trinidadian storyteller and, of course, the ‘Trini gladiator” himself, C.L.R. James, have reaffirmed my interest in Trinidad & Tobago and leftist humanism, of course. In other news, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler (“Kindred” should be a movie, by the way), and other speculative fiction writers have fueled my growing interesting in science fiction, a genre I have neglected since my youth. In the spirit of the “Best of 2015” lists that are ubiquitous this time of year, here are my top “reads” of 2015:
1. Adolph Reed’s Class Notes and Stirrings in the Jug: For anyone interested in the state of black politics and race/class in the US context.
2. Barbara and Karen Fields wrote an enlightening book on race, racism, and inequality in the US, the excellent Racecraft.
3. Cedric Johnson has written a definitive account of the limitations of Black Power politics, against the prevailing trend of vindicationist scholarship one encounters. Highly recommended for all those willing to take a glance at a work of political science which does not cower in fear of criticizing some of the prominent Black Power ideologues and proponents. Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics is for you, if that interests you.
4. Shiva Naipaul’s Fireflies is a great tragicomedy that meets or perhaps excels his big brother’s “A House for Mr. Biswas.” With far greater attention to the plight of women, Shiva Naipaul’s humorous but depressing novel is one of the greatest depictions of the search for meaning in a seemingly small place, Trinidad. Highly recommended for all fans of Naipaul, those interested in Indo-Caribbean Trinidad, and anyone searching for a “great” novel that redeems the spirit. And, may I add, Romesh runs off to New York and marries a Puerto Rican Negro!
5. VS Naipaul’s The Enigma of Arrival for those interested in autobiographical fiction. Describing in excruciating detail his time living in the English countryside, the true highlight for those interested in the Caribbean is VS Naipaul’s description of his 1950 trip from Trinidad to England, with layovers in Puerto Rico and New York. Fascinating and introspective reflection on movement and death, decay and rebirth. Powerful ending as Naipaul describes the funeral rites of his sister, back in Trinidad.
6. VS Naipaul’s In A Free State, the first Caribbean novel to win the Booker Prize. Disturbing stories of freedom, lack of moorings, postcolonial revolution in Africa, the migrant experience, and, surprisingly even racism against Indo-Caribbeans in London. Recommended for those fans of Naipaul’s later, dark style ruminations on postcolonial countries without the sentimental deceptions we place before our eyes.
7. Naipaul’s Mimic Men, for all those interested in a scathing critique of postcolonial politics in a Caribbean nation which bears an uncanny resemblance to Trinidad. 8. Andrea Levy, a British writer of Jamaican ancestry, writes the novel which so realistically depicts the world the Windrush generation of West Indians faced upon arrival in England. World War II, interracial marriage, colonialism, British racism, India, Jamaica, and the “smallness” of both islands figure prominently in this powerful novel. Highly recommended for all interested in Black Britain, Jamaica, class in English society, etc.
9. Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. I think I’ll skip the Amazon TV adaptation, and stick to this fascinating alternative history in which Nazi Germany and Japan win WWII. Recommended for all fans of “phildickian” creativity, metaphysics, and science fiction.
10. Lorca’s Yerma, a disturbing look at the life of a woman in Spanish society and the “proper” place for women, fertility, and pagan themes. Highly recommended, as well as “Blood Wedding,” translated from the Spanish by the inimitable Langston Hughes.
11. The Military and Society in Haiti by Michel Laguerre is essential reading for all interested in Haitian society, history, the disproportionate role of its military in its political history and why for such a small country which rarely used its military on external enemies, how its function in politics led to its problems with local populations.
12. Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is pertinent to the issues of class in American society, a topic we usually ignore or pretend we’re all “middle-class.”
13. The Black Jacobins by CLR James is a classic in the black radical tradition. I recently re-read it for the third time, and, as always, learned something new.
14. Octavia Butler’s Kindred is only my second foray in SF by writers of color, but initiated a process I hope to continue on! I firmly believe this should be adapted into a film or miniseries.
15. Dany Laferriere’s An Aroma of Coffee, for all readers who enjoy writers’ attempts at recapturing their youth and a child-like sense of wonder. Dany Laferriere’s grandmother, Da, will make you cry. As Futurama once said, a grandmother is both honored and subjugated....
16. The Beast of the Haitian Hills (Bete du Musseau) by Philippe-Thoby Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, two Haitian writers, surprisingly took a hold on me. Not exactly sure if its a horror story, a fable, or something else, this 1940s Haitian novel succeeds in taking one to the world(view) of the Haitian countryside while satirizing class relations.
17. Jamaican-American Claude McKay’s Home to Harlem is a classic in Harlem Renaissance literature. Lots of radical Harlem political viewpoints expressed here, such as opposition to US Occupation in Haiti, post-WWI black militancy, and precious 1920s Harlem slang and language. Once you remember McKay wrote “If We Must Die,” this novel makes more sense.
18. Death and the King’s Horseman, by Wole Soyinka. For anyone and everyone interested in Nigeria, Africa, Yoruba culture and traditions, colonialism, and human nature. This short play moved me.
19. Esmeralda Santiago’s When I Was Puerto Rican is rightfully a classic in Puerto Rican, Hispanic, Latin@ literature and circles. Santiago’s “loss” of life in Puerto Rican countryside and then the slums of the capital will leave tears in your eyes, particularly when she’s ‘uprooted’ a second time to New York. I will have to read the read of the trilogy soon.
20. Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life by Coetzee offers a fictionalized account of Coetzee’s childhood in the South African countryside and the eventual move to Cape Town. Lots of insightful commentary on the countryside, race relations, politics as the Nationalist Party hovers in the shadows, and a South Africa that no longer exists.
21. Earl Lovelace’s The Wine of Astonishment, required Caribbean literature. I knew nothing of the Spiritual Baptists or this Trinidadian world in which Lovelace depicts so well.
22. The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon brings to life the Windrush generation! London, that’s the place for me! Humorous, written in ‘dialect,’ experimental, and not only about West Indian migrants in 1950s London (there’s a humorous West African who hangs out with the West Indians, bedding prostitutes and living off various women, including a funny encounter with a transgender woman), Selvon has quickly become one of the more enduring writers to me in his deep identification with Trinidad, transcending the racial barriers the Naipaul brothers never seemed able to cross in their West Indian fiction.
23. Naipaul’s Suffrage of Elvira is class Naipaul: Trinidad setting, satirical, comical, lampooning local society and politics. Naipaul biographer Patrick French is right: if Naipaul had only written his early Trinidad comic fiction, his reputation as a writer of the Caribbean and the English language would still be firmly entrenched. Anywho, I’ll say one thing about the people of Elvira: you don’t have to bribe them twice!
24. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. As a creative soul who wrote for multiple decades, his poetry encompassed many styles and political ideas. I personally love his proletarian, left-wing verse, but there’s more than enough for everyone to laugh, from comedy, blues, jazz, black internationalist rhymes, etc.
25. A Way in the World by Naipaul. Not really a novel, though marketed as such in the US, this suite of interconnected stories takes one to Amerindian Guyana, anti-colonial 1950s politics in Trinidad, and a semi-autobiographical narrator who describes an attempt at being courted by the Caribbean leftists and black nationalists. In typical Naipaul fashion, our narrator refers to the notion of a racial movement forward too sentimental! I love it, even though I profoundly disagree with Naipaul and his condescending description of we people who are darker than blue. Nonetheless, his fictionalized CLR James, Lebrun, is granted respect in this tale stretching from South America’s Guyana and Venezuela to Trinidad and beyond.
Many other books were read or perused, but these 25 have left a mark for 2015.
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