The Lioness

Books: I was the first one to take out the new fiction book by an author that I never heard of but many others did (e.g., the pretty one in Big Bang Theory is in a new series based on one of his books). I don't know if I would like the others -- I tried that with a romance novelist and didn't like the second book I read -- but maybe I'll try at least one more. 

This one -- The Lioness -- concerns an actress and others accompanying her on a safari in the 1960s being part of a kidnapping going seriously wrong. The book has a bunch of first person points of view, which is a tactic I like. I like to see things from various vantage points.  When I was a teenager, I actually tried that out with a story about -- what else -- abortion. 

I found the book a free and easy read, flipping back and forth from the past (recent and further back) and the present. The fact the captives fought back is both dubious as strategy (half died though one from her wounds, one separately) and questionable as something likely to happen. But, as a fictional device, it worked overall. About three hundred pages; good length.

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I also just started a book based on a podcast by three black women entitled Truth's Table, telling things through a black Christian women lens.  So far, it is a good way to get a different perspective of things, even if I might not agree with the specific Christian views of the women in particular.  This might be a good time just to let them express their own vision.  

One thing referenced is that "there are no white people in the Bible."  My thought there is that as a half-Italian, what about the Romans?  This argues that the reason is that "white" was not a concept yet.  Here is another take:

Does that mean though that there are no White people in the Bible? Race isn’t only about color; it is a social system about power. In this respect, the Bible shows systems of inequality that are all too familiar. Although it’s true that the Roman army was much more ethnically diverse than White history often chooses to remember, it’s likely that at least some of the Roman occupiers would have been—what we now call—of European descent.

I just started the book (a few chapters in), so maybe the concept is discussed more later.  It is surely correct that the Bible as a whole concerns people of Near East persuasion, even if it is common to portray Jesus as white, sometimes as if he is some sort of white hippie type.  And, people like the great Christian scholar Augustine was North African. 

Anyway, the early chapters include discussions of colorism (black people being concerned with shades of black), protest, and decolonization of the black church.  I might not be meant for the table, but I assume that I am among those allowed to stand up in the back and listen.  

And, even evangelicals these days are mostly seen as the pro-Trump party, tainting Christian religion in general, I welcome those who live in the Christian faith and have something useful to tell us.  Plus, black women are the most likely to vote the right way.  A plurality of white women voted for Trump.  Black men can be lose their way too.  

(On the bus today, one black guy maybe twenty or something, was firmly sure that men were superior to women because Adam came first and they were stronger and built a lot more stuff.  Some guy he was speaking to tried to calmly explain why he thought women were equal to men, but figure him starting off "granting" God exists alone made him seem confused.)  

So far, I like overall the woman's point of view, and again the Christian stuff is not overwhelming, even if (the reference to God as "he" just seemed off) even beyond the fact I'm not Christian at times I simply don't buy it. Still, again, I'm open to seeing things using their poetry as long as the rest of the stuff is has something to say worthy for even this white dude.