Blogging books

I like the idea that this medium which we are accusing of stealing our childrens' ability to appreciate the good things in life, like conversations and literature, can turn the tables occassionally, like when it presents this ongoing conversation (16/08) from Barbara Ganley about books that "really" mean something.

For the time being I'm connecting to the first question only - books that changed your life, among which must feature Rosellen Brown's extraordinary 'Half a Heart' - a novel, and James McBride's 'The Colour of Water' an autobiography and tribute to McBride's mother. Both deal, albeit in totally different ways, with bi-racial children and the relationships they have with their white mothers. It is the social context which made these books so significant - and so shocking - for me. In the former the mother surrenders her daughter to the child's father at birth because she believes there is no way that she can know how to raise that 'black' child, to all intents and purposes the Deep South socio-political 1960s context determines that there is no middle road of colour, white mother or not, the girl is black and - the part that shocked me - the mother seems to put up no fight against this at all. Almost as shocking is the fact that no-one seems to envisage any problem with the father being left to raise a girl child alone. I cannot imagine the story turning out the same way in 1960s Britain - that's not a criticism, just an observation of difference.

McBride, on the other hand, describes growing up in the ghetto alongside his complicated family, including his white Jewish mother who having refused to accept such a status quo endures lifelong censure from both black and white but remains steadfast in her convictions and her committment to her family of twelve children. The story is told alternately in his voice and hers in successive chapters and is well worth the reading.