Day 6: Plant and a Book
I will always mention Bedrock Faith by Eric Charles May when some ask for recommendations of Black American authors. This book is so damn underrated! I hope one day Eric Charles May decides to release another book. I’d be the first one to purchase it.Bedrock faith has everything that makes a great novel – larger than life characters, good writing, suspense, and a complex plot.
What’s it about?
“After fourteen years in prison, Gerald “Stew Pot” Reeves, age thirty-one, returns home to live with his mom in Parkland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. A frightening delinquent before being sent away (his infamies included butchering a neighbor’s cat, torching another neighbor’s garage, and terrorizing the locals with a scary pit bull named Hitler), his return sends Parkland residents into a religiously infused tailspin, which only increases when Stew Pot announces that he experienced a religious awakening in prison. Most neighbors are skeptical of this claim, with one notable exception: Mrs. Motley, a widowed retiree and the Reeves’s next-door neighbor who loans Stew Pot a Bible, which is seen by Stew Pot and many in the community as a friendly gesture.
With uncompromising fervor (and with a new pit bull named John the Baptist), Stew Pot appoints himself the moral judge of Parkland.”(Bedrock Faith, cover description)
Day 7: Next Read
Well I’m back to serial reading since I’m reading a huge doorstop. I don’t mind because I’m enjoying everything. The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison is a treasure trove of info on life back in the day and on writing, life, attitudes, and creativity. I’m enjoying reading about his friendship with Richard Wright and others. I started Bebe Moore Campbell’s What You Owe Me and I’m intrigued for the moment. This is an oldie but I have high hopes for it. Last but not least I’ll be picking up Song of Solomon for the second time in eons. So I’ve got my work cut out for me this week but so far so good…. What are you reading? Do you usually read more than one book at a time?
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