Catching up on some of those Great American Reads

One of the literary highlights of the season has been the launching of The Great American Read on PBS,which aired the other week and introduced viewers to the one hundred titles available for voting online.

There's also been a quiz on the official website that lets you check off how of the books you have already read and I'm happy to say that I've completed a good number of them. Mind you, with entire book series such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Alex Cross, my total is tricky as some of those I have read only a couple of the books in that particular stack.

However, I would like to add a few more to my tally but a reasonable number there. So, I have a list of five books from the GAR pack of nominees to get to before the winner is announced. Most of these titles were on various TBRs(yes, I have more than one or two!) with only one recently purchased:

THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD: Zora Neale Hurston's iconic novel about the emotional journey of an African American woman was met with mixed reviews upon it's first publication in 1937.

However, her work was revisited by scholars and critics during the 1970s and 80s, gaining recognition for the vibrant humanity and forward feminism to be found within it's pages. This book is her best known work, with Oprah Winfrey producing a made for TV adaptation in 2005, starring Halle Berry as Hurston's heroine Janie Crawford.

I might check that movie out but do plan to read this along with the recently published non-fiction ZNH book,Barracoon(which recounts an interview with Cudjo Lewis, one of the last transported slaves to America). The latter couldn't find a publisher willing to take it on for decades but fortunately, has been released for all to appreciate in these turbulent times. I look forward to being embraced by Hurston's words and fully appreciating her literacy legacy as well:

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE: I've been on an Agatha Christie kick lately but have only read either her Miss Marple or Poirot mysteries. This sinister story(which has rightfully gone through a couple of title changes there) is one of her stand alones and has been made into as many films as any of her renowned detective tales.

This suspense classic features a group of ten people who seemed to be wholly unconnected to each other yet one person is motivated enough to kill them off,slowly but surely. A framework that many have tried to duplicate in various forms over the years yet the original is still held to be the best.

I want to read this with fresh eyes so I'll avoid the movie versions for now. There will be plenty to choose from afterwards,goodness knows. My copy is making it's way to me via mail as we speak and that wait will make my reading of ATTWN all the more delightful:

AMERICANAH/WHITE TEETH: Both of these contemporary novels are award winners, with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie getting a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2013 and Zadie Smith receiving the Whitbread and the Commonwealth Writers honors for this debut back in 2000.

They also share the theme of immigration in common as Americanah's lead characters, Ifemelu and Obinze, find themselves separated as each one leaves their home country of Nigeria to make a new life in America.

 While Obinze is ultimately denied his chance and become an undocumented immigrant in London, Ifemelu is able to enter the United States and discovers a new set of struggles awaiting her.

In White Teeth, the myriad of family dramas within the story are centered by the friendship of Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, who met during the last days of WWII. Samad became a British citizen after the war and the two of them often share a pint and opinions at the local pub.

Their children,however, feel the brunt of cultural assimilation from more than one section of society. Some of that unspoken yet keenly applied pressure leads their sons and daughter down a dangerous path with consequences that are more far reaching than they think.

Out of the two, I have tried to read White Teeth the most but it just didn't click with the me the first couple of times around. Well, the third time is the charm and with the wonderful word of mouth that White Teeth has gotten over the years, I should finally succeed on that front:

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY: Yes, I'm giving in to the bizarre hoopla and going to read this damn thing. As it happens, I picked up the second and third book in this series at a church rummage sale(true story) and it felt silly not to have the one that started it all,so I got a secondhand movie tie-in edition to complete the set.

Okay, enough equivocating; out of the several eyebrow raising books that are on the GAR list, E.L. James' twisted love story has drawn the most ire from readers and I get that, believe me.

However, after all this time and with the movie adaptations over and done with, I suppose that seeing what the fuss is all about is a good enough reason as any to read this now. Unlike the ladies of the current hit movie Book Club, this won't drastically change my life but who knows, I might get a better idea of the overall appeal of Ana Steele and Christian Grey here:

I have no set timetable for these reads,although a few of them will be part of future readathons for me. I might do a couple of follow-up posts about some of the books when I'm done(yes, Fifty Shades will more likely than not get a full review) and if anyone else is doing a Great American Read list of their own, please let me know.

The voting is still on for the Great American Read and there is a Facebook group for readers to talk about all kinds of books,including those selected for  this list. Whether you like or loathe some of the novels chosen here, this bookish talk is a good path towards reading more, which is something we can all agree on: