Better late than never! I’m finally back at the beginning of this new year with the Read Soul Lit Photo Challenge. I’ve linked the photo challenge here so that you can follow along. I promise to be back with at least one post a week but this month I’ll be here everyday with my photo pic from the Read Soul Lit Photo Challenge in honor of Black American writers for Black History Month 2021 that I’m hosting over on Instagram.I’ll be doing weekly videos on YouTube as well covering what I’ve photographed for the challenge.
As for my TBR, I’ve chosen quite the big stack this month because I truly do want to get through all of these great books and more if possible. I’ll be laying off the extra Netflix watching, besides when I watch when I’m having lunch or dinner. I’m also going to try to read everyday this month. I didn’t do that last month. There were 11 whole days when I didn’t read a thing and that’s why I didn’t finish one of my books last month. Totally unacceptable if I want to get through 8+ books this month.
So what have I decided on reading:
Firstly I’ll be reading A More Perfect Union by Tammye Huff. It’s a fictionalized retelling of the meeting and life of her great great grandparents. This is the book I’ve chosen for the Read Soul Lit Readalong for this month. If you’re interested in joining you can purchase the book through The Book Depository and you can join the Goodreads group where month long discussions will be happening. The group is called A More Perfect Union Read Soul Lit February Readalong 2021
The 2 biggest books I’m reading this month are What You Owe Me by Bebe Campbell (533 pages) and The Selected Letter of Ralph Ellison (1,002 pages). I so hope I can manage to finish these two.
The Read Soul Lit Book Club on Patreon, we will be reading Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It will be my second time picking it up in a very long time, since college. I’m wondering what my thoughts will be. More on that as it happens….. If you’re interested in joining the Patreon book club you can click here.
Since I’m trying to read one short story collection a month I’ve decided on The Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley. An oldie by the great Leonard Pitts, Jr., Grant Park. It is a story of race relations in the United States set between two eras 2008 and 1968. And last but not least two new releases: The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr. It’s a story set in the Deep South on a plantation that explores a relationship between two men. The other book is called Yellow Wife and it is also a slave narrative that follows slave Pheby Delores who has been promised to be set free on her eighteenth birthday.
Come back tomorrow for Days 2 and 3 of the photo challenge.
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The Brown Girl Reading March shop has Read Soul Lit mugs and tote bags! Get into the mood with a great book and a Read Soul Lit mug with your fave hot drink.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate good times other than with friend, family, great food and drink. So this cookbook Jubilee: Recipes from two centuries of African American Cooking by Toni Tipton–Martin came immediately to mind. I have a thing for cookbooks. I can read them like novels. Cooking I feel is a great way to get to know someone, understand how they function on many different levels. However this post is about celebration and Jubilee is the cookbook to bring some serious flavor to the festivities. A few of the recipes I’m interested in trying out on my friends and family are the orange biscuits for a nice brunch, the braised lamb shanks with peanut sauce for Sunday lunch, and the moist rich Devil’s Food Cake for afternoon tea. Of course there are many more interesting recipes as well as some historical information through recounting all about the tradition and background of the different recipes. She even cites other cookbooks she used to do research to choose these recipes for the book. I highly recommend it. The video below Tipton-Martin discusses her first hit cookbook called The Jemima Code: two centuries of African American Cookbooks.
I thought I was going to have to comb my shelves for ages to find a book published in September, but actually I remembered that both Bluebird, Bluebird and Heaven, My Home were both published in September. Even though I decided to look to see how long it would take me to find another book published in September and sure enough four books later I was holding Dear Haiti, Love Alaine in my hands. I received this book from a book buddy, Forsaken707, Kesha as a birthday gift. haven’t picked it up yet but can’t wait since I’ve noticed its format is epistolary, notes, emails and text. Love when authors use letters to write stories. The special thing about this book is that it’s written by two sisters who are Haitian-American. So I suspect it will contain themes about integration, immigration, Haitian culture, and race. Once I read it I’ll surely be back to let you know what I think about it. Check the video below where the authors talk about what their goals were in writing Dear Haiti, Love Alaine.
Today’s recommendation I discovered in the spring of 2015. Water Street was one of the first few short story collections I had read in a long time that I thoroughly enjoyed. Fourteen connected short stories set in Stanford, Kentucky in the black community. I was amazed to see how well Wilkinson linked each character and unveiled their secrets. Water Street has that southern literary flair that I love to read. The style of writing is through short narratives and monologues. You’re probably thinking that this makes the short stories feel unfinished but in fact they are full of impressions and feelings that are familiar.
novel), and 
Poetry is not something I pick up very much but in the past 4 years I’ve had the pleasure of reading some fantastic poetry collections. This year has started with Dear Ancestors Poems & Reflections on the African Diaspora by CP Patrick, author of the compelling novel The Truth About Awiti. There are poems in this collection that come from The Truth About Awiti. I strongly recommend you check it out because it is quite the story with a dash of fantasy and deals with the African diaspora and the transAtlantic slave trade.
o African Literature. We have ways to go to get to the same level of recognition.
Michael Eric Dyson is back with his newly released book today, What Truth Sounds Like. What Truth Sounds Like is Dyson’s continued discussion of race in America, carried over from his book last year called 
from an African-American author is Native Son. I first read Native Son in college for a third year literary course. I was blown away by the precision in Richard Wright’s writing style. You will literally go through all emotions while reading this tragic and infuriating novel, which show cases Bigger Thomas one of the most intriguing main characters in an American modern classic. Native son has to be one of the greatest American classics and should be read by all. Have you read it? Were you blown away by it?