Finished: Go Tell It On The Mountain (Baldwin). A powerful book! Lord have mercy. No really, the characters say that alot in this book, Lord have mercy. I feel like I've been in a very emotional, powerful church for the last several hours as I read this book with its prose, sermons and scriptures all mixed into one tale. It's a book about religion, believing, not believing, racism, hatred, sin, redemption, uncertainty, pain and individual spirituality. It's a book about those who are hypocrites while claiming to be in the midst of God's eyes, and those who are pure of soul long before accepting God's eyes to watch over them. My heart always breaks when children are involved, especially when they're degraded or abused or in such poor circumstances that they resort to means that will only hurt their lives. I was happy that 14 year old John finally came to accept Jesus in his life, but could see at the end of the book that he was still going to have an uphill battle staying on that path...especially with a preacher step-father who so obviously still detested him. A very  moving book, for sure. Of the predominantly African American books I've read, though, I think The Help still moved me the absolute most. And to think...that is the book that got me to start searching for more good, classic books to read. :-)