Terrapin Station

Looking for fiction suggestions to make me think!

So what I do is, I read. 

That's one of my most basic identities. I'm a reader. Coincidentally, I have 2 degrees in literature. 

When I was in high school I used to set myself "summer reading projects" with the idea to read all of a particular author. So I'd go to my Houston Public Library (Kendall Branch) and check out all of Roald Dahl (a rude shock to read his adult work after James & the Giant Peach), Kurt Vonnegut, Herman Wouk, Wallace Stegner, etc. I have no idea where I got this idea, or how I picked the writers I included, beyond seeing they had a lot of books on the shelf. I also didn't really understand that my library might not, probably didn't, have all of the works of any author. I liked doing this because it was a challenge. 

After it took me 7 years to finish my Master's degree, I wasn't able to read for pleasure for several years. Finally, I got it back. Now I find myself reading a lot, some nonfiction and a ton of fiction, but not very much fiction that's challenging. I'm not apologizing for that...I've done my time. I'm not going to apologize for anything I read or don't read.

I have read a lot of nonfiction in the last few years about racism, cultural and social issues. This includes a good bit that's been challenging, stretching. 

BUT. 

I just realized something. In fiction, which is my escape, I tend to choose locations and people that are familiar...that look like me. And I didn't get that until I started a book recently (which I cannot find the name of) and about 10 pages in a character described herself as having "brown skin." I thought, "brown skin? huh, is she Hispanic?" and then I realized she is Black. The entire family was Black. I didn't get that until it was TOLD to me. I assumed they were "white like me." 

Yep. Not so woke, am I? 

So. I have a new summer reading project, which, now that I am out of school and retired, can last forever: reading fiction by people who don't look like me. Not all the time. But I need to stretch my imagination. I have a list. But any suggestions are welcomed. 

I never thought it could happen to me

One day I took time off from my job.

I earn vacation time at a high rate due to seniority, so I have plenty. I don't have to be afraid I'll lose my job for this.

to drive two counties northeast to pick up a new truck for Ken's business.

We own a successful family business, which has occasioned a tremendous amount of work and a good deal of satisfaction over the years.

(We both have graduate degrees, by the way.)

One of us was handed her education on a silver platter of expectation and tradition. The other worked very hard and completed on his own.

We left Denton in my air-conditioned vehicle and drove East on Hwy. 380

The car was full of fuel. We have good tires, plenty of oil, and good roads on which to drive. Traffic was heavy but orderly.

On the way we stopped for more fuel and restrooms,

and both were readily available, in multiple locations.

The countryside was beautiful. We passed bois d'arcs and pecans and big oaks.

There were abandoned farm houses and rundown stores, but there were no remnants of bombings or attacks.

We arrived in Cooper and bought a used one-ton truck from a horse farmer.

Ken found it on the internet. The title and transfer forms were signed and handled easily and cordially.

I met a puppy named Reddy who bit my toes.

He was the scariest being I encountered that day.

On the way home, we missed our turn a few times, but eventually we returned to our cool, safe, lovely home.

No one stopped us to challenge our right to travel, our citizenship, or anything else.

Not a day in my life have I ever been afraid,

not the way that people in Ferguson or Trenton or Fallujah or Gaza are afraid.

Once I heard a former official with the UNHCR talk about her work with refugees.

Every person she talked to said the same thing: "I never thought it could happen to me."

I never think it can happen to me.

Because: white privilege.

So, I think I need to expand my definition of "me." If it happens in Ferguson, Trenton, Fallujah or Gaza,

It happens to me.

What am I going to do about that?

Yeah, what?