/
Pluralist
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BOOSTS BETTE MIDLER READING BLACK AUTHORS DEEPLY ON RACE
December 4, 2021
Mister D: When I read this article it infuriated me because whomever wrote it seemed to have an agenda, and they didn’t seem to know or understand Ms. Midler the way I do. Most of her fans know her as a voracious reader. Not only does she like keeping up with the times, but this lady pushes the boundaries and reads things that I would shoot myself before attempting. My desire for knowledge only goes so far.
In the piece below the writer casually suggests that Ms. Midler is pandering to the blacks by her emphasis on several black authors and I just don’t buy it. She has always had an array of authors she has read, but it doesn’t surprise me that she read Mayou Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” again. A lot of people love that book. She also mentioned W.E.B. Du Bois, Ta-Nehisi Coates and bell hooks. And two more, Tiffany Haddish and friend, Mariah Carey. So yes, she has interest in race and race relations. And then the author make the final point that if she had a dinner party, all 3 authors she would invite would be white. Gotcha Miss M! You talked about all those blacks but you wouldn’t invite them to a dinner party? Now, lets look at the original article.
Mister D: In the original article, Bette clearly stated her two favorite authors were Charles Dickens (I’m related to him) and Mark Twain (one of mine). She mentioned Michael Lewis 3 times, Matt Taibbi (been telling ya’ll for 6 years to read him), Carey McWilliams, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon, Hilary Spurling, Naomi Wolf, Eleanor Catton, Bryan Stevenson, Michiko Kakutani. Peter Bogdanovich, John Kobal, “She Always Knew How,” Charlotte Chandler’s oral history of Mae West. Frank Capra, Preston Sturges, Ben Hecht, Gloria Swanson. Marlene Dietrich, by her daughter, Maria Riva. Joan Crawford’s book on entertaining is hilarious. Tina Fey’s book is killer. Tiffany Haddish’s book, a must-read, and I loved Amy Poehler’s. Candy Bergen, Sally Fields, Eve Babitz and, of course, Joan Didion have all written brilliantly about their Hollywood lives. I loved Jean Stein’s last book, “West of Eden.” R. J. Wagner’s memoir on Hollywood, surprisingly very moving. I cried. Anita Loos’s “A Girl Like I” is just wonderful. I wish I had known her. She loved Nora Ephron. Everything else listed and there was more were basically white. She mentioned loving a bio on Malcolm X and he was very interesting. She also mentioned more authors writing about race and reconstruction. But people who like to learn and are inquisitive types like Bette and myself will focus on learning about topic of the day. I just wanted to show you how lopsided the article was below. Maybe I overdid and now she’ll be called a white supremacist. We need to learn how to counteract that narrative. Sorry, if you disagree with some of the insanity on the left, you are not a white supremacist
Pluralist
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BOOSTS BETTE MIDLER READING BLACK AUTHORS DEEPLY ON RACE
December 4, 2021
The New York Times Book Review Sometimes, celebrities are softly interviewed for the “By The Book”, feature. This allows them to talk about their love of reading and writing. This Sunday’s celebrity was Bette Miler. The headline read “Bette Midler Still in the Thrall 19th-Century Novelists” She was also drawn very nicely.
She insists that she loves reading and she actively shares how many black authors she’s read. Like Maya Angelou.
What’s the last great book you read?
Recently, I reread it. Learn Why the Caged Bird Sings. Hands down, one of the greatest I’ve ever read….
What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
I’m adamant about the reason why the caged bird sings. The scene in the church, where a woman gets the spirit and rushes the pastor, is one of the funniest things I have ever read.
What’s the last book that made you cry?
I’m adamant about the reason why the caged bird sings.
Ok, she Looooooves Maya Angelou. But there was more. When asked about her favorite current authors, she mentioned Ta-Nehisi Coates and bell hooks. (She hates capital letters, but she doesn’t care). And she insists “Alex Haley’s [The Autobiography of] Malcolm X made a huge impression on me.” Also:
How many books should everyone read before turning 21?
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Folk’s Souls, Dummies’ Guide to Personal Finance and Jane Jacobs’s Great American Cities: The Death and the Life.
….Do you want more authors to write about the subject that interests you?
Reconstruction and Race. Although the evil deeds of Andrew Johnson ought to be well-known, it is not. Children should know that Reconstruction is still affecting them. I’m 75, and it was news to me.
Even though all the messaging is about her readings regarding race, her ideal dinner with literary figures will be all-white.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. You are inviting three authors, alive or dead, to a literary dinner party.
Charles Dickens and Fran Lebowitz, Vladimir Nabokov.
Hello darling…
Well, do you know what I have been noticing for quite a while?
Articles arent’ anymore about talking to the sources…since early 2000’s, when I worked as an online journalist, people read what has already been published, read whatever they find, put it all together and make a “stew” out of it. I have seen this happen to hard news and I have seen this happen to articles about Bette, from media outlets, both considered “serious” or “tabloids”…I remember this article where she says she would invite this 3 authors and it has been quite a while…
So let’s just ignore people who play assholes…
We, who have been following her long enought to know she’s way more than an article and a tweet, don’t give two fucks about those. haha
Love you
xoxo
I am noticing that those who just regurgitate old news don’t even fact check. If the first article was wrong, then this new article will be wrong. I’m going to start correcting them because I see it happening in important articles that deal with politics to entertainment, and I know this is getting old but we are being dumbed down. People aren’t using capitalizations, no punctuations so there are just run on sentences, fuck context. Journalism is being destroyed and nobody cares. But one day people will wish they had listened. And the time is near. Did you give up on my financial plan. I could still use help but wouldn’t I need to save all my receipts for a while?
Precisely. They we’ve been doing it and taking info out of contexts with EVERYONE about politics and issues that are quite important (not diminishing bette’s importance here, but you know what I mean LOL).
Text me! About the second part…it’s much easier than you think. Specially when we are broke hahahahah xoxo