Meme: Books (or two can play at that game!)
JC
Damn, CVK. How you gonna meme it up and tag 5 people and not make me one of them? I’m your partner in crime?! Not to mention that I am book-obsessed! Well, I guess there’s gonna be a lot of self-tagging going on at MMW! 
Lol. I just really wanted to play…
1. One book that changed your life
Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth by Derrick Bell. Shout out to Mr. Bell. LOVE him and his books. But most specifically, Ethical Ambition. It made me feel like I wasn’t such a freak for doing what I do. Ew. That makes me sounds really high and mighty. Lol. Don’t be fooled. I’m just a little mighty. 
2. One book you have read more than once
The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes. I read this once and loved it so much, I recommended it and read it again with the SwirlNYC book club. Langston wrote this originally at 1933. He was an amazing writer — able to use simplicity to show such complex feelings and interactions. Even though his writings on race relations portrayed a world almost 73 years ago, the dynamics described are still so relevant that he could have written the book yesterday.
More after the jump…
3. One book you would want on a desert island
Parable of the Talents or anything else by Octavia Butler because her writing is magic and always allows for hours of escape! I would forget I was deserted…
4. One book that made you laugh
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett because it was one of the books on my shelf I remember loving as a child. I still have a copy — what was good then, is good now. I mean, how can you not laugh at mashed potatoes and pancakes falling from the sky (and I mean, laugh with your head tilted up…you might as well catch the falling food while you’re at it, no?)!? Thanks to this book for helping me to fall in love with reading.
5. One book that made you cry
The Professor’s Daughter: A Novel by Emilie Raboteau. I’m with you on this one, Carmen…some things just hit home.
6. One book you wish had been written
When Racial Stereotyping Goes Awry: How to use rotten tomatoes and other soft but dense objects to make a statement against hate by Jennifer K. Chau (see how I use my full name when I am really serious about something?) 
7. One book you wish had never been written
I have a few books I could put here, but I don’t want to give them any publicity! Let me know if you really want to know. Take that, crummy books!
8. One book you are currently reading
Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank H. Wu. We’re going to discuss this next in the SwirlNYC book club!
9. One book you have been meaning to read
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria - And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum. This is embarassing. It has been mentioned/quoted soooo often, but I still haven’t read it. So many books, such little time!
10. Now tag five people!
You know what? I am still bitter about not being tagged, so I am not going to tag anyone else! So there! (Translation: I don’t think I have any blogger friends besides Carmen and one person whom Carmen already tagged). 
Anyone want to be bloggie friends with me? Just kidding. Kind of.
Gandalf Mantooth wrote:
I’ve had Wu’s book for a few years and just haven’t been able to finish.
Posted 15 Aug 2006 at 11:07 am ¶
brad wrote:
How abut called “Why are the White Kids sitting Together”! There’s always this concern about people of color sitting together but no one is concerned about the white kids all happy and cozy at the lunch table.
Posted 15 Aug 2006 at 11:10 am ¶
Cocacy wrote:
Great list of books. Have you read Karen Brodkin’s How the Jews Became White Folks or Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism?
Posted 15 Aug 2006 at 8:33 pm ¶
km wrote:
Those books look interesting. I usually looked for books on ‘mixed race’ on the amazon website. One that I liked was ‘One Asian Eye-Growing Up Eurasian in America’ by Jean Giovanetti. Another good one that gets mentioned a lot is ‘What are you-voices of mixed-race young people’ by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins. I am always looking out for good books on this topic!
Posted 16 Aug 2006 at 5:15 am ¶
km wrote:
Another good one is ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’ by Li Cunxin. The autobiography of a male Chinese ballet dancer who is married to a female caucasian (australian) ballet dancer. I did mention this in comments section of ‘angry asian men speak out’ article but wasn’t sure if anyone would read it by comment number 22.
Posted 16 Aug 2006 at 6:23 am ¶
tmk wrote:
Jenn, please keep us updated on when your When Racial Stereotyping… book comes out!
By the way, the most memorable story I’ve read is a short story by ZZ Packer called Geese. It’s about a group of foreigners in Japan, living in Japan.
Posted 17 Aug 2006 at 1:48 pm ¶