WHEN: January 18th, 2009 at 2:00 PM MST. WHERE: Gold Star Chat Room WHAT: The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. (Someone Knows My Name - US and Australia) WHO: All book lovers welcome!
Our book selection for January, 2009 is The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. This title is the Canadian title, and in the US and Australia, it is called Someone Knows My Name.
This is the stunning story of a young 11 year old African girl named Aminato Diallo who was stolen form her small village in Mali, West Africa and sold into slavery to the owner of an indigo plantation on an island off the shore of South Carolina.
When I was given this book for my local book club's monthly selection in October, I was apprehensive about reading it, because I can't read anything that gives graphic detail about man's inhumanity to man. It will stick in my mind and soul for months afterward and I will often dream about the situations described in the book. So, the idea of a child being ripped from everything familiar was almost more than I could imagine reading, and I was unsure whether I'd even begin the book.
Once I began to read this stark narrative about Aminato's life, I was hooked by the end of the first page. That's a good book, I think! So, I'd encourage you to find the book in your local library, put it on your wish list or treat yourself to it at your corner book store and read it over the holidays. I started reading it in the evening, and read until way too late! It is one of those books that I couldn't put down! I was so wrapped up in the story that I needed to remind myself at every tea-and-toast break, "This is a NOVEL, Brenda...it's not a true story! She's not a real person, just a character in this book."
Here are a couple of links to the Concentric Reading Circle's new forum, located at the bottom of this message board...you can shortcut by using these links or you can check out the various conversations happening right now by going to the bottom of the forum page and looking for our new forum, CRC Book Club Discussions:
The Book of Negroes ~ an on-going discussion for everyone to talk about this book as we are reading it. You are very welcome to join in!
Please join us in our book club discussion and then come to the book chat on January 18th at 2:00 P.M MST in the Gold Star Chat Room!
Here's a review from Entertainment Weekly: "Aminata Diallo, the narrator of Lawrence Hill's transporting historical novel The book of Negroes/Someone Knows My Name, is nabbed from her African village by slave traders when she's 11. Shipped to South Carolina, she works on an indigo plantation, bears and loses a child, escapes to freedom in Nova Scotia, returns to Africa, moves to London, and becomes involved in the abolitionist movement. That's an impressive CV for a 'little bitty pint-sized fast-talking African woman,' but Hill makes Aminata such a terrific character, you believe she could have pulled it off. And through her curious eyes, a terrifying patch of history comes to vivid life." ~ Jennifer Reese Brenda
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WHEN: January 18th, 2009 at 2:00 PM MST. WHERE: Gold Star Chat Room WHAT: The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. (Someone Knows My Name - US and Australia) WHO: All book lovers welcome!
A reminder to get your copy of our Concentric Reading Circle's January book of the month, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, and start reading! The book is available in trade paperback from most booksellers. In the U.S,. and Australia, the book is titled Someone Knows My Name. (Why must the publishers change book titles from one country to another is beyond me. )
It's a very easy book to get into, and it is a fast read, because the story is so compelling and the author's language flows so well. This is also a very timely book to read, with President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration taking place on January 20th.
So, if you don't have your copy yet, call your local library or buy a copy from your favorite book store, then start reading!
Everyone is welcome to join us for the monthly chat as well as participating in the day to day conversation about this book in the Book Club Discussions forum at the bottom of the forum page.
There are current updates posted several times a week in the Book Club Forum on the book of the month topic about The Book of Negroes, with quotes from some interesting reviews, a few author's quotes and some enlightening comments from Slowtrav members who are currently reading the book!
We'll meet in the Gold Star Chat room on Sunday, January 18th at 2:00 P.M. MST for our monthly book chat.
"The Book of Negroes is likely the best description of details of the slave trade I have ever read, particularly the journey from an African village to the coast. The writing is excellent and very well-researched. In fact, the factual portions of the book are woven so well with the fictional parts, it seems as though this were a memoir of a real African named Aminata. This is a superb novel that deserves a lot of attention." ~ Saskreader, Library Thing Brenda
Panda, Has your book arrived yet? Yikes, that's a long time for one little book to make its way across one large city!
One week left until our chat in the Gold Star Chat Room about this book, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I'm looking forward to this discussion and hope to see everyone there who has been reading along with us this past month...and if you've not been reading the book, join us anyway. You are more than welcome to come along!
"..the great African-American writer James Baldwin was at the forefront of a movement to make public the voices of a new generation of black women and men. The supreme achievement of Lawrence Hill’s new novel is to give a similar voice to an even more distant generation.” ~ The Weekend Australian Brenda
Here is the link for CBC's Canada Reads! book selections...guess which book made the shortlist? You're right, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I'll be listening to the discussion of these books!
Here's a portion of the description of how the people were treated when they arrived in Nova Scotia, expecting land, food and help: "While most did receive town lots, the majority never received farmland at all. Those lots that were granted were on poor soil, small, remote, and very late in coming. In many cases the blacks had already become indentured servants or sharecroppers by the time they had a chance to receive land." ~ Black Loyalist Society history Brenda
Slow Travel Talk 
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