James-Valentín
Their Eyes Were Watching God x Zora Neale Hurston
“Written in the everyday vernacular of the people featured in its’ pages, Their Eyes Were Watching God can be thought of as a hero’s journey. It’s the life story of Janie, a Black woman from early 20th century Florida. We see her grow from a teenage girl into her forties and we meet all the terrible, violent men in her life along the way. The book ends as it begins, with Janie sitting on her porch, recounting her life story to a friend.” - james valentín
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. An author of four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountain, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College and Columbia University, and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1927. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida. She died in Fort Pierce, in 1960. In 1973, Alice Walker had a headstone placed at her gravesite with this epitaph: “Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South.”
The Wretched of the Earth x Frantz Fanon
“This book centers around decolonization, in Africa and Algeria in particular, but the message is universal. Fanon lays out the consequences of colonialism, a “stolen humanity” of the oppressed. He asserts that violence is a necessary aspect to a process of decolonization. This is something I chose to read in order to further my understanding of decolonization outside the metaphorical.” - James Valentin
DESCRIPTION
A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and racial difference in history. Fanon's masterwork is a classic alongside Edward Said's Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and it is now available in a new translation that updates its language for a new generation of readers. The Wretched of the Earth is a brilliant analysis of the psychology of the colonized and their path to liberation. Bearing singular insight into the rage and frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence in effecting historical change, the book incisively attacks the twin perils of postindependence colonial politics: the disenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, and intertribal and interfaith animosities on the other. Fanon's analysis, a veritable handbook of social reorganization for leaders of emerging nations, has been reflected all too clearly in the corruption and violence that has plagued present-day Africa. The Wretched of the Earth has had a major impact on civil rights, anticolonialism, and black consciousness movements around the world, and this bold new translation by Richard Philcox reaffirms it as a landmark.
Things Fall Apart x Chinua Achebe
“Things Fall Apart follows Okonkwo, an Igbo man who lives in what will later become south-eastern Nigeria. The book describes his life, the society in which he lives in, as well as the encroachment and influence(s) of British colonialism upon the aforementioned. It examines Christianity and masculinity and their relationship to colonialism. It’s a good read.” - James Valentin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) was born in Nigeria. Widely considered to be the father of modern African literature, he is best known for his masterful African Trilogy, consisting of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease. The trilogy tells the story of a single Nigerian community over three generations from first colonial contact to urban migration and the breakdown of traditional cultures. He is also the author of Anthills of the Savannah, A Man of the People, Girls at War and Other Stories, Home and Exile, Hopes and Impediments, Collected Poems, The Education of a British-Protected Child, Chike and the River, and There Was a Country. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for more than fifteen years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. Achebe was the recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Nigeria’s highest award for intellectual achievement. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement.
Interpreter of Maladies x Jhumpa Lahiri
“This is a collection of short stories published by the Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri. Every short story follows a different set of characters, some living in diaspora and some living on the Indian subcontinent. I was so struck by the way the author situates the reader within a world with so few words… The book is full of food, recipes and aromas that made me feel nostalgic for things I never knew.” - James Valentin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jhumpa Lahiri is the author of four works of fiction: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth, and The Lowland; and a work of nonfiction, In Other Words. She has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize; the PEN/Hemingway Award; the PEN/Malamud Award; the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award; the Premio Gregor von Rezzori; the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature; a 2014 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama; and the Premio Internazionale Viareggio-Versilia, for In altre parole.
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents x Julia Alvarez
“This books tells the story of a young Dominican girl and her family’s migration story during the era of Trujillo. The García family flees to New York City from the Dominican Republic and the reader finds themself square in the middle of this cultural divide. It’s a poignant narrative full of strong women.”-James Valentin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez.” In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.
Latino City x Ilana Barber
“ “Why am I here?” is an existential question that I think we all find ourselves asking eventually. Growing up Latinx in Lawrence, I constantly wondered “how did we get here?”… This book was able to provide some of the answers I was looking for. It taught me so much about the city in which I live and the community that I’m from. It presented the reasons and the particularities that allowed for Latinxs to form communities in the U.S. Northeast, and even described the forces that pushed out these immigrants from their homes in the Global South… It’s a dense read but it’s so worth it.” - James Valentin
DESCRIPTION
In this book, Llana Barber interweaves the histories of urban crisis in U.S. cities and imperial migration from Latin America. Pushed to migrate by political and economic circumstances shaped by the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, poor and working-class Latinos then had to reckon with the segregation, joblessness, disinvestment, and profound stigma that plagued U.S. cities during the crisis era, particularly in the Rust Belt. For many Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, there was no -American Dream- awaiting them in Lawrence; instead, Latinos struggled to build lives for themselves in the ruins of industrial America.
Dreaming in Cuban x Cristina García
“Dreaming in Cuban is a book that I’ve been able to come back to a couple times already. It’s a narrative fractured across time and space(s). The story follows three generations of Cuban women, in Cuba during the revolution and in the US post-revolution. I felt like this was the first book I read where I could almost literally feel the characters’ emotions. At the time I really appreciated the insights that the book shares on both Communism and Santería.”-James Valentin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cristina García is the author of seven novels, most recently King of Cuba, and the forthcoming Berliners Who. She has published poetry, books for young readers, and edited anthologies on Latino/a literature. Her work has been nominated for a National Book Award and translated into fourteen languages. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and an NEA grant, among others. García has taught at universities nationwide and lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
A New Earth x Eckhart Tollé
“I first heard about this book from Rupaul, on his podcast. This was at a time where I was looking for my own answers to what spirituality meant for me. I think nowadays everyone talks about “living in the now” but this book was able to break it down for me in a way that felt authentic to my own experience. Tollé speaks about the separation of the ego from the self and the nature of “reality”. This book helped me feel more grounded in my own beliefs and really opened up new avenues of thought for me. “ - James Valentin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eckhart Tolle is a contemporary spiritual teacher who is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition. In his writing and seminars, he conveys a simple yet profound message with the timeless and uncomplicated clarity of the ancient spiritual masters: There is a way out of suffering and into peace. Tolle travels extensively, taking his teachings throughout the world.
Teaching to Transgress x Bell Hooks
“This text was my first introduction to bell hooks and it was what I had expected and more. Syncretizing feminist thought and critical pedagogy, hooks relates stories from her own experiences in the classroom. This book was so important to me at a time where I found myself at the front of classrooms, trying so hard to not replicate the same colonial, white supremacist education that I had received. Not a dense read at all, considering the subject matter. Everyone with even a passing interest in education should read this.” - James Valentin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
bell hooks is a writer and critic who has taught most recently at Berea College in Kentucky, where she is Distinguished Professor in Residence. Among her many books are the feminist classic Ain't I A Woman, the dialogue (with Cornel West) Breaking Bread, the children's books Happy to Be Nappy and Be Boy Buzz, the memoir Bone Black (Holt), and the general interest titles All About Love, Rock My Soul, and Communion. Her many books published with Routledge include Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom, Belonging: A Culture of Place, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, Where We Stand: Class Matters, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, and Reel to Real: Race, Sex and Class at the Movies.