As a young boy I read all of those Uncle Remus books and I enjoyed them. Unfortunately, they are banned in most schools. Political correctness has taken over. Personally , I don't find them racist at all. But, then again , I have not read them as an adult.
They supposedly portray slavery as "not being all bad". I am sure there were slaves content with their lot, but there also were many who were abused and treated like livestock.
The Uncle Remus books also portrayed the stories of a slave as being worthwhile, which was uncommon during the slave days.
I remember 2 things about those books: 1-Tar Baby 2-Please don't throw me in the briar patch! (What a great tactic to carry through life.)
I grew up in part time Atlanta's West End and Stone Mountain. Joel Chandler was only a couple blocks from our house in West End on Gorden Street. In the 50s we kids played in the yard of The Wrens Nest, Chandlers home place. Ironic this was the cause, because in the late 1990s Jake and I took the grandkids to hear the storyteller there, and she was a young black woman who told it with a lot of positive emotion. She seemed to enjoy it. Guess it wasn't on the racist list yet. Grands enjoyed her charisma and talent. I think most racist today are black or Hispanic, like the La Raza group, Aka, 'The Race'. Too bad they don't realize the nation they divide will be conquered but not by any of them or the whites they blame for all their problems. Still black slaves being bought and sold in Africa so why not fix their first slave masters who sold their people all over the world before they mess it up for them and us with false victimhood and prejudices. Of course, we may be too far gone now from the traitors these two groups, other minorities and liberal whites put in office.
I have always been a voracious reader, mostly works of fiction. I don't believe I could ever choose a "best I ever read."
That perfectly describes me as well, @Beth Gallagher , and that is why I love my Kindle Unlimited subscription so much. I read both for education and for entertainment, and the borrowed books from KU or my library are perfect for entertainment reading, and sometimes for the health books (or others) that I want to read to learn something, as well. There are a lot of books that I would not spend the money to purchase, but just reading them works for me. I also have Bookbub and Bookgorilla, so when they alert me that one of those books I read and wanted is now on sale, then I buy it at the reduced price. As far as saying what was my most favorite, that is definitely hard to do, because there are so many good books that i really liked and left their mark in my mind. The one that I would most recommend is called “Leaving Time”, by Jodi Picault. As much as I can say without giving anything away, is that it is the story of a young teenage girl who lost her mother in a somehow when she was around 2 years old, and now she is searching for her mother with a strange detective, and a psychic. The story is so compelling that I have read it probably 4-5 times, just because I love reading it so much. It is one of those that when you finish it, you have to go back right away and read it again to find all of the little clues you missed the first time through. https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Time-bonus-novella-Larger-ebook/
The only fiction I ever enjoyed reading was science fiction. Everything these days is non-fiction. Currently reading about the POW camp Andersonville which was located in Georgia for Union prisoners.
George Washington by Ron Chernow, about the founding of America. 500 pages long, but a great read with letters from George and his wife, the war creating the military forces, all the challenges of the first years, Good read if you like history.
I was caught bythe concept too, @marie. I don't think that is a novel, but it may be. Was it fiction or an historical novel?
Haven't read the latest collection/series we bought yesterday but it's the Rick Riordan's writings. https://rickriordan.com/ The Trials of Apollo https://rickriordan.com/series/the-trials-of-apollo/ When you enjoy history as I do, these books are full of mythology about Greek Gods and Goddesses, Tartarus, Zeus, Olympus, the Parthenon and so much more. It may be in a fantastical fiction but it's interesting no less, daughter and I are top notch Speed readers, so it'll be over soon and as to catch everything, we'll be reading each at least three times each.