February 2018 Reading

The books that I finished reading in February 2018:

February 2018 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson

From Great to Poor

Head and shoulders above all the books I read this month is "A Different Drummer," by William Melvin Kelley. Indeed, it is one one of the best books that I have ever read. It is imaginative - starting with a mass exodus of all the black people in a Southern state - and well written. It contains, what for me is a fascinating perspective, a black man writing about what white people think about black people. I can not recommend it highly enough, especially for those of us who question what it means to be a black author.

"Wine. All the Time.: The Casual Guide to Confident Drinking" is a fun piece of fluff with some good pointers. It is aimed at a much younger demographic than the one this reader belongs to, but it did introduce me to the Kalimotxo. That is a good thing.

"Fire and Fury" has been all the rage lately, but I found it lacking. Much of what is covered I already knew from following "The Guardian".  A lot of the rest seems like just so much conjecture, signifying  nothing.

The Green Book

"The Green Book": photo by Cliff Hutson

The small, thin book in the photo, with no title on the spine, is a facsimile edition of the 1954 "The Negro Travelers' Green Book", usually referred as just "The Green Book". This book listed hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, beauty shops, barber shops and various other services would cater to black customers during the years that Jim Crow was rampant. It seems no surprise to me that interest in this publication is resurgent as divisions in America are being stoked by the subject of Michael Wolfe's book.

Off the Pace

I have completed eight books as of February. This means that I had better pick up the pace if I want to fulfill my self-imposed goal of sixty for the year.