being true, even fundamental, isn't actually a defence against being trite. Which is why sports commentators still have jobs

Snerk. It's funny 'cause it's true

I had a couple of problems with reading this book. The first one was an inability to grok the genre.

This didn't bug me (although it seems to have bugged others). I saw the lack of a clear genre, but I didn't have a problem with just going with it.

I don't know if this happened to anyone else, but I was halfway through the book before I noticed the author's picture on the back cover. I had no idea he was black.

One bookstore I tried to find the book at had it in the black literature section. That helped to clue me in....

And I'm sorry if I'm repeating, but "uplift" is a fairly ubiquitous and important concept in African-American thought in this country, from W.E.B. DuBois's Souls of Black Folks through Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and even in Malcom X's autobiography and speeches.

See, I haven't read enough about Afriican-American history to be able to make that parallel, so it was completely lost on me. Which is too bad, because I (seriously) like the book more now that I know that Whitehead chose elevators for a reason.

t averting eyes

I haven't read the book yet and so am skipping this round of discussion up to this point...just wanted to say "rah rah!" and say I'll be here in the future.

You aren't alone in the not reading, Kristen. I couldn't find a copy, and I was unwilling to pay for one. I have been fascinated, though, by the varying responses, especially when you factor in the various expectations caused by people's usual tastes in books. I would have taken everything at face value in the story, because the books I read are nearly always laced with unexpected things. It annoys me how people laugh or sneer (no one here, just in the general population) when they run into something that is outside their usual worldview. It's like the way some people will automatically reject SF or fantasy because it's "make believe." I know people who become almost angry when asked to read/see something with a fantasy base, like it's offense to them somehow.

During this lull in the discussion, do you think we should figure out which book(s) will follow Asher Lev?

Whoops, I'll post when I get home. I meant to do it before the discussion, but I've been swamped and with limited access recently, and didn't want to bury it in the middle of Intuitionist. My bad.

We still need to come up with a way to pick the next after that, though.

We still need to come up with a way to pick the next after that, though.

Yup. Do we have a procedure? Where did that discussion leave off?

I know something like this has been said before but I'm too busy tired lazy to go back and check. Anyway, here's a suggestion: how about instead of consensing on a book, we keep a running list of suggested books (as we've been doing) and figure out a way to pick a Buffista to make the selection from that list. Interested selectors can add their names to a list and then someone can put all the names in a hat, or run a randomizer or whatever and that person can pick the book from the list. We can even add a twist that the selected Buffista has to choose a book that they did not suggest.

I like that idea (mostly because I don't care how we choose, just so long as we keep picking and reading and discussing).

I do think this

We can even add a twist that the selected Buffista has to choose a book that they did not suggest.

is a particularly good idea though. I chose a book I hadn't read, becasue that was part of the fun of it- reading something I might not otherwise.

BTW- I'm really loving the current selection, which happened to be my pick preens.