#classicread

Reading:

A new year and a new reading challenge. The Authorbetical Challenge for 2017

I thought I’d read my first Jane Austen! I love watching movie adaptations of her books but in all my years I’ve never actually read one, so the time has come and Persuasion it is.

 I’ve even found a bookmark to match.

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel dives deep into the exploration of different kinds of relationships and love: love between siblings, love between a man and woman, love between two people, love between parental figures and children, love between a husband and a mistress.  Love is love is love is love. How do you express love? How do you receive love? How do you perceive love? Told through letters written to God and written to (and from) her sister, the main character narrates using African American Vernacular English (AAVE).  From a linguistics and cultural standpoint, I am so fascinated by AAVE; it’s use, it’s rules, it’s meanings. AAVE is a celebration of black culture in America and is a means of passing on history, but is often misunderstood as “broken” or “illiterate” English. Contrary to popular belief, AAVE is a dialect of English that has it’s own grammar rules and patterns. It is a topic that I LOVE learning about. This book is rich in culture, dialect, and diverse family dynamics, with strong female characters at the helm. 

Similar to: The Bluest Eye. [request: please PLEASE recommend other books you feel are similar to these 2 two, or written in AAVE, as I am searching myself!]