Show threadTrevor BurrowsOct 21

Just finished this (*Old School Indian* by Aaron John Curtis).

Overall, really, really good. I definitely recommend it.

I'll try and jot down a few more concrete thoughts later, but definitely worth one's time:

It's funny, sometimes darkly so. It's also moving with moments that capture many shades of grief very well.

You can't help but learn a bit about Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) culture and language as you read. Framed with constant nods to indigenous life and history, past and present, beyond the immediate story.

It's got a clever bit about catching poems that imagines the "catching" to be a rather literal thing.

There's a meta-twist in the way the story is narrated.

Poetry interludes between chapters.

Lots to like and learn from here. Will be thinking about it for a while!

#OldSchoolIndian #Bookstodon

Trevor BurrowsOct 15

"Coming up, you're gonna see the word "Tóta" a bunch of times. When you do, please know it's not some cutism like Nana or Gammy or Pop-Pop; it's the Mohawk word -- or rather, the Kanien'kéha word -- for "grandparent." No particular gender because we're all evolved and shit, innit. Kanien'kéha won't be italicized because it's not a foreign language (although I hear we're calling that practice linguistic gatekeeping nowadays, which feels right to me); it's one of this land's many original languages."

-- #FirstSentences of Aaron John Curtis, *Old School Indian*

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How good is that opening?!?

Started this on the 13th (?). Will use this thread for #ReadingNotes.

#AaronJohnCurtis #OldSchoolIndian #Bookstodon #NowReading

Show threadTrevor BurrowsOct 9

There's really only one way to solve this dilemma:

A first-sentence off!

The first sentence of #OldSchoolIndian:

"Abe stands on the shaggy living room rug of his great uncle's trailer, shoes off, stripped to the waist."

And that of Vuong's #EmperorOfGladness:

"The hardest thing in the world is to live only once."

Hmmm....