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I have this pet theory about book recommendations.
And there, between giving and receiving, lies a great gulf.
No one can quite account for what happens.
Reading, hopefully, but you never can be sure.
Its that time again.
The weeks and months following the 2016 presidential election was such a moment.
Thehow could this happenmeets theI told you so.
They rendezvous at the anti-racist reading list.
An anti-racist reading list means well.
Still, I am left to wonder: Who is this for?
The syllabus, as these lists are sometimes called, seldom instructs or guides.
It is no pedagogue.
And all that language.
I suppose the anti-racism reading list is exactly for that person, the person who asks for it.
Anti-racism reading lists fail such a person, for they are already predisposed to read black art zoologically.
For such a list to do good, something keener than anti-racism must be sought.
The very assurance of absolution is tainted.
If you want to read a novel, read a damn novel, like its a novel.
As a friend pointed out on Twitter, George Zimmerman was acquitted seven years ago.
Donald Trump was elected four years ago.
Black History Month happens every year.
Cops kill all the time.
But thats the thing about the reading.
It has to be done.
