Banned Book Club "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Name: Banned Book Club "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Start: 2024-10-22T11:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-10-22T12:00:00-04:00
Location: 117 S. Pineapple Ave.,Sarasota,34236,US

Schedule

Tue Oct 22 2024 at 11:00 am to 12:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

117 S. Pineapple Ave.,Sarasota,34236,US | Sarasota, FL

The Banned Book Club is led by Bryn Durgin. October's selection is "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston.
In this monthly book club dedicated to reading and protecting the most important and threatened books for our generation, October’s pick is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. After being out of print for almost 30 years, Their Eyes Were Watching God has become the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature since its reissue in paperback edition by the University of Illinois Press in 1978. Recently banned in Collier County, Florida, ( https://pen.org/more-than-300-titles-banned-in-collier-county-florida/ ), Their Eyes Were Watching God is also one of the Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century noted by the American Library Association. See the complete list here: https://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template+?ContentManagement/ContentDisplay..cfm&ContentID=136590 .
We will meet in person in the loft at our store at The Mark, 117 S. Pineapple Ave. The book club is $18, which includes a copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God to be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting.
About the book :
The epic tale of Janie Crawford, whose quest for identity takes her on a journey during which she learns what love is, experiences life’s joys and sorrows, and come home to herself in peace. Her passionate story prompted Alice Walker to say, “There is no book more important to me than this one.”
When first published in 1937, this novel about a proud, independent black woman was generally dismissed by male reviewers. Out of print for almost thirty years, but since its reissue in paperback edition by the University of Illionois Press in 1978, Their Eyes Were Watching God has become the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.
With haunting sympathy and piercing immediacy, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie Crawford’s evolving selfhood through three marriages. Light-skinned, long-haired, dreamy as a child, Janie grows up expecting better treatment than she gets until she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who engages her heart and spirit in equal measure and gives her the chance to enjoy life without being a man’s mule or adornment. Though Jaine’s story does not end happily, it does draw to a satisfying conclusion. Janie is one black woman who doesn’t have to live lost in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, instead Janie proclaims that she has done “two things everbody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.”
Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels ( Jonah’s Gourd Vine , 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God , 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains , 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee , 1948) as well as The Life of Herod the Great , which she was still writing when she died; two books of folklore ( Mules and Men , 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess , 2001); a work of anthropological research, ( Tell My Horse , 1938); an autobiography ( Dust Tracks on a Road , 1942); an international bestselling ethnographic work ( Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.
About Book Bans:
Book bans in public schools have recurred throughout American history, and remain an issue of concern to us at Bookstore1Sarasota. Over the past years, the scope of such censorship has expanded rapidly. In response, PEN America has collated an Index of School Book Bans, offering a snapshot of the trend. The index provides a comprehensive list of books banned in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year. Check it out and join us in our efforts to protect free expression and students' first amendment rights. You can view the index here: https://pen.org/2023-banned-book-list/ .
. .................................................................................................
All signed up and unable to go? Please let us know! Seating is limited and there may be people on our waitlist who would like to to take your place. Please send an email to [email protected] ASAP and hopefully we'll see you next time.
Click here to go to the Bookstore1Sarasota website: https://www.sarasotabooks.com/.