This week’s Banned Books Friday – very early Monday morning as my left hip is still completely out with a CRPS flare I cannot contain so my schedule is a bit wonky – is James Baldwin’s 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain.

For me, this was another classic reread from my high school days – and one that I recommend if you haven’t read.

It is Baldwin’s semi-autobiographical work about his teenaged life in Harlem. In it, he writes about one 24-hour period in the life of his 14-year-old main character, John Grimes – the boy’s birthday – but also uses flashbacks and scenes from other characters’ lives – to propel the story. He speaks powerfully of faith and hypocrisy, race and sexual violence, and John’s sexual shame and confusion as well.

This novel is included on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Best English Language Novels from 1923 – 2005.

As I was thinking about the book, I also remembered that I had not watched the award-winning documentary, “I Am Not Your Negro,” about James Baldwin that came out in 2017 – and so I took this opportunity to do so.

Y’all.

If you have not seen this film, watch it this week.

The documentary is taken from an unfinished manuscript written by James Baldwin – where he shares many thoughts, including his memories of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers. The voiceover of the manuscript is read by Samuel L. Jackson.

It is also filled with video footage of James Baldwin speaking that is as compelling today as it was when it was first filmed.

It is truly a phenomenal documentary about an incredible writer and activist.

I’m off to rest now – and I have several posts I hope to share this week – if I can proyerfully get this body to cooperate with me.

Wishing you all a great week and happy reading. ❤

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Awakening – Kate Chopin

Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Animal Farm – George Orwell

1984 – George Orwell

Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston

A Separate Peace – John Knowles

Lolita – Vladmir Nabokov

A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner

LOTR – The Fellowship of The Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien

LOTR – The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien

LOTR – The Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien

Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

Song of Soloman – Toni Morrison

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey

Beloved – Toni Morrison

The Color Purple – Alice Walker

The Call of the Wild – Jack London

Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin