Happy Black History Month! For me, Black History Month is everyday, but I enjoy that there is a month where I can devote some exclusive time to celebrating my people and learning even more about them. February is also the month when Read Soul Lit got its wings. It’s the month when we take the time to focus on black American writers through my photo challenge. As always I will be updating my Instagram posts here daily this month for those of you who don’t have the app. If you have an Instagram account I urge you to prepare your pics in advance so that you can keep up with the photo challenge as well as keeping an eye out on my stories for updates on who’s posting on the Read Soul Lit Roll. I’ve again managed to get a bunch of creative, well-read black content creators who will be posting on their favorite black American authors, their books, or bookish stuff. You can get a good look at the schedules through the pictures below.

Read Soul Lit Photo Challenge – Day 1: #ReadSoulLit TBR

I had a lot of trouble as always to choose my TBR this month. It doesn’t help being a mood reader because I just want to read everything. In general, I never like making choices. I always feel like I’m missing out on something. My second dilemma was waiting to see if I would be judging the first round of The Booktube Prize and if so what would I be reading. In the end, once that information came through it helped me make what I believe to be the best choices.

Sun Is Sky – Jedah Mayberry

This is the Read Soul Lit Readalong pick for February. This is going to be an interesting read and there will be a live discussion at the end of the month on Saturday, February 26th at 9pm Paris Time and Jedah Mayberry will be joining us for the second half of the discussion. If you’re still interested in purchasing the book, I recommend you buy from Blackwell’s located in Oxford, England, since apparently this book isn’t easily found in the US. 🙁 Their shipping is efficient and free. Please click here to use my affiliate link to order. It helps me buy books every now and then and I thank anybody that’s used it before.

The Trees – Percival Everett

This is a book I originally had on my tentative TBR and it turns out I’ll be reading it for the Booktube Prize as well. So, I’ll be getting ahead in my reading with this one. I read 2 Percival Everett books last year and he has sparked my curiosity despite really liking only one of the two books I read. I first tried So Much Blue and it was just weird and I wan’t really sure about what he was really trying to say. All the satire just went totally over my head. However, in summer I tried Erasure and that was really awesome. It was a hoot and makes some excellent commentary on the literary world. I highly recommend it. So then I was determined to keep trying his novels. I decided to make him one of my author discoveries of 2022 and picked up I Am Not Sidney Poitier and The Trees, an oldie and a new release from last year.

Grant Park – Leonard Pitts, Jr.

This is the February pick for The Read Soul Lit Book Club that I run on Patreon. Leonard Pitts, Jr’s books have been on my list since I read The Last Thing You Surrender in 2020 for the Read Soul Lit Readalong. So I’m delighted to be reading it with the ladies from my book club. I just know our mid-month and end of the month discussions are going to be fire! As I always look forward to them. Not to mention, we’re going to have Leonard Pitts, Jr. for our end of the month discussion so I’m sure the ladies are really going to love that.

My Monticello -Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Since I had such a great time reading Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires with The Read Soul Lit Book Club, I’ve decided to try and read a short story collection a month. It was such a brilliant collection and has weighed in as my first 5-star read of the year! So My Monticello seemed to me to be the best choice for the month of February. This collection got rave reviews last year so I have high hopes.

Saint Monkey – Jacinda Townsend

Ok Saint Monkey has been on my shelf since 2014 when it was released. I got interested in wanting to read this novel after having the pleasure of meet Townsend through a mutual friend. It’s set in the Jazz Age and tells the story of two young women who are friends so it has a soupçon of coming of age. I’m looking forward to delving into this one because I’m almost certain it’s going to have great depth and excellent writing. I also want to read this before Townsend’s second novel, Mother Country, hits the presses this year in May.

The Personal Librarian – Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

This one has been suggested to me over and over since last year when it came out. It tells the incredible story of Bella DaCosta Greene who has to “pass” in order to take the job as J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian. Jersey Femme has never let a moment go by to remind me of how good this book is and how much I’m missing out not having read it yet. So boom LaTrice! February is here and I’m finally going to get to it. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done.

The Chiffon Trenches – André Leon Talley

Last but not least, The Chiffon Trenches is on my TBR in honor of the passing of the great André Leon Talley. The announcement of his death January 18, 2022 took us all by surprise. What an exceptional man and fashion icon with his grandiose capes! I’m finally going to read his words about life inside the fashion world which clearly takes no prisoners. He worked as a journalist, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. He was the first person of color breaking barriers and advocating for diversity for future people of color to be able to work In this exclusive industry of fashion, which is still not wholly inclusive today.