Photo Challenge – Brown Girl Reading

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge - Days 25 & 26

Day 25 – Drink & Book(s)

Today I decided to take a picture of one of my favorite mugs (New Orleans – Bourbon St. mug) and a nice chunk of my ReadSoulLit shelves. It always makes me very happy to drink a great cup of tea and to read a good book. Nothing can beat that. This last week has been colder and raining and being sick hasn’t helped. If anything I’ve definitely got the reading in. February is coming to a quick close and hopefully ReadSoulLit books will continue to remain in our minds for the rest of 2020. What do you like to drink while you’re reading?

Day 26 – Happy Feet & a Book

I couldn’t resist. I had to take a picture of some great books, my J. California Cooper collection, and my Dr. Marten dupes. Those books are so underrated. If you haven’t read a short story collection from Cooper, what rock have you been living under. Go out right now and get your hands on one of her brilliant short story collections. You won’t be disappointed. I recommend Homemade Love. It’s one of my favorites.

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 23 & 24

Day 23 – Eternally Classic

Phenomenal Woman Four Poems Celebrating Women is definitely eternally classic….. The video below is of Maya Angelou reciting Phenomenal Woman. It’s hard to believe she isn’t here anymore.

Phenomenal Woman

By Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Day 24 – Starts with the First Letter of your name

Debbie Doesn’t Do It Anymore is not one of the titles I hear readers speak about from Walter Mosley. Released in 2014, its provocative cover attracted me immediately. I was curious and even more intrigued about reading it. Debbie a famous porn star tries to change her life, after her husband is found dead in a hot tub at their home. The novel revolves around her attempts to change what is expected if her and how the adult industry and fans react to her change. Mosley really tries to put himself in a woman’s shoes. It’s an interesting exploration on life change and how difficult that can be to succeed. This is one that flew under the radar but that was a lot better than I thought. I rated it a 3,5 stars and am anxious to read more books by Mosley with female main characters in stand alone novels. Great video below of Mosley talking about Debbie Doesn’t Do it Anymore. Excellent!

If you’d like to pick up a copy of any of my recommendations or just shop for yourself please consider clicking my affiliate link for The Book Depository. It would be much appreciated. It will help fund my incessant book buying, reading, and reviewing. Thank you!

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ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 21 & 22

Day 21 – December Wrap Up

My December 2019 ended with a bang because I was lucky enough to read The Nickel Boys, Red at the Bone, and In West Mills. All three were five-star reads for me. The Nickel Boys was saddening but a wonderfully told story shedding light on the horrors that took place in a real reform school in Florida. Red at the Bone explored how an unexpected pregnancy affects an entire family. Beautifully written and slightly melancholic, Jaqueline Woodson manages to paint a meaningful portrait of a black American family. Lastly In West Mills is a story of community and how community can become family and how living one’s life freely can be difficult in a small town. Short and sweet In West Mills has unforgettable characters and lively dialogue. It’s amazing how much De’Shawn Charles Winslow says in this novel in so few pages. I highly recommend all three books. Check out the video below to hear what Roxane Gay’s Book club thought aboutRed as the Bone.

Day 22 – Single Ladies

The Blackbirds was the first novel that came to mind when I thought of single ladies. Kwanza, Indigo, Destiny, and Ericka will have you smiling, laughing, and shaking your head throughout, despite their individual troubles. Eric Jerome Dickey doesn’t leave anything out from a cheating ex-fiance, crushes, alias, illness, etc. All of that is glued together with a little erotica. This book was surprisingly longer than I’d expected – just a bit over 500 pages. I read it and rated it five stars but found myself missing Dickey’s writing style from his older novels which I feel are written so much better.

http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=browngirlreading

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 17 & 18

Day 17 – A 2010s Classic

I couldn’t resist choosing Lighthead by Terrance Hayes. This was the first collection I read. Y him which wasn’t suggested to me by Danielle from Dani! Dany! Danie! On Instagram. I was not disappointed. His poetry is meaningful, intentional, and creative. I know poetry can often times turn readers off, but Hayes’ poetry is not at difficult to understand or appreciate. Some of my favorite poems from this collection are Lighthead’s Guide to Addiction, Fish Head for Katrina, and Twenty-six Imaginary T-shirts. His poems come to life when spoken aloud. Not only do these poems have deep meaning but they also have beautiful flow and rhythm that you can appreciate in the video just below. Enjoy!

Day 18 – Musical Youth YA

I don’t often read YA novels but this category immediately made me think about On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. This second novel is even better than her first The Hate U Give. She really pulled out all the stops with characters that feel like real people, a more complex storyline, and a bit of rap to top it all off. I listened to it on audiobook and found that it was read to perfection. I highly recommend it. I can say I was genuinely invested in Bri’s story. I can’t wait to see what Angie Thomas writes next. You can check her out in the video below talking about this hit second book.

http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=browngirlreading

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 15 & 16

Day 15 – Cuz This Is Thriller!

Thrillers aren’t the genre I go to the most but they are starting to be the ones that I go to to decompress from all of the serious reads I pick up. I chose Blanche Cleans Up (The Blanche White series #3) by Barbara Neely and A Little Yellow Dog (The Easy Rawlins series #5) by Walter Mosley because these are the two mystery series that I need to finish and to get moving along on. The Blanche White series sadly only contains four books. Once I’m finished with book four I know I’m going to miss reading about Blanche.

Easy Rawlins is another series that is full of surprises since with each book time is passing and the secondary characters are becoming more and more fascinating and Easy is taking us along on his more and more unpredictable cases, while we follow the changes happening to him and the other prominent characters. This series contains a total of 14 books, so I hope to be able read a bit more from this series. Next month for #MarchMysteryMadness, these will fit in perfectly with theme being the number 5. Check out this video to hear more about it.

Day 16 – Last Finished

What can I say. The last book I finished was the incredible epic ReadSoulLit Readalong novel, The Last Thing You Surrender. And I surrendered everything! Lawd! That novel took me through all kinds of emotions. It’s a brilliant story with larger than life characters who you aren’t likely to forget. I’m still missing reading about Thelma, Luther, and George. If you haven’t decided yet about picking this book up there is still time to start and finish it before our live discussion on Saturday, February 29. I highly recommend this great American masterpiece. It’s a hidden gem that has literally not been talked about at all that was released last year. Check out this video where Leonard Pitts, Jr. talks about something that he illustrates very well in his novel The Last Thing You Surrender. Brilliant storyteller!

http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=browngirlreading

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 13 & 14

Day 13 – Biography or Memoir

I chose the memoir by Michaela De Prince called Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina. After hearing her story on television many years ago, I was motivated to read her story. I haven’t yet read this one but I have a feeling it’s going to be very interesting. After living in an orphanage in Sierre Leone where she was badly treated because she suffers from vitiligo and was called the devil’s child because she was the least favorite, she was motivated by a picture she saw in a magazine of a ballerina en pointe that she found outside the orphanage. That picture gave her something positive to focus on. She was eventually adopted by the De Prince family and she’s become an excellent dance with hard work and dedication. She currently dances in a Dutch company.

I’ve always loved ballet and did ballet from age 5 to 17 years old. Back in the day there weren’t any black ballerina’s. I would have liked to be inspired by a black ballerina, so it’s nice to see there are more of them today. It would be nice to have even more of them, especially in the States. The picture on the right is me in my ballet class. I must have been about 12 years old there. Click on the video below to see Michaela De Prince dancing. It’s absolutely beautiful!

Day 14 – Black Love

Today is Valentine’s Day! So I went rummaging for a title of a black love story that maybe wouldn’t come up on the Instagram feed. Something different. I found quite a few obvious ones like An American Marriage and Loving Donovan, but in the end I decided to go with another TBR book, a romance called Zachary’s Wings by Rosemarie Robotham. This is the story of Zachary and Korie who have a passionate love affair despite their different upbringings. Zachary is a social worker from a working-class family and Korie is an Ivy-league-educated reporter and Jamaican born. Clearly there relationship will be tested but hopefully it will survive. The story covers themes of race, class, and sexuality, so it sounds right up my alley. This book was published in 1998 and was Robotham’s debut novel. So let me know down below if you’ve read this one or anything else by her and what you thought of it. It would be nice to read this one after a heavy read.

http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=browngirlreading

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 11 & 12

Day 11 – 2020 Newbie

As every year there are so many new releases and new authors appearing on the scene and 2020 is no different. I decided to go with Stateway’s Garden by Jasmon Drain, gifted to me by Penguin Random House. This debut work is a memoir of connected short stories that take the reader into a housing project on Chicago’s South Side. For the moment I’m finding it very interesting but will be back with a review once I’m done. Jasmon Drain grew up in Chicago in the Englewood neighborhood. He was a Pushcart Prize Nominee in 2010 and 2011. Having never heard of this literary prize I want to their website to find out more about the prize. The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize which honors the best “poetry, short fiction, essays, memoirs published in the small presses over the previous year. “They welcome up to six nominations (print or online) from little magazine and small book press editors throughout the world. They welcome translations, reprints and both traditional and experimental writing. The nominations are accepted between October 1 – December 1.” (pushcart prize.com)

Day 12 – Musical Genius took me a little more effort to find a title. I originally thought of James McBride’s Kill ‘Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul, however it was impossible to find it among my books. Trying to combing through when you have as many books as I do, you find forgotten treasures. That’s when I fell upon Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which is #3 in The Century Cycle by August Wilson. Now I really want to read all 10 plays in order but sadly I only own this one and the first play of the series called Gem of the Ocean which I read and enjoyed a few years ago. I think I gave it 3 stars. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is about a legendary blues singer so fits the photo challenge perfectly. Just from reading what this play is about I’m sure it would be fantastic to see at the theatre. It covers themes of self-hate and racism. Check out the videos below where you can see a few scenes being performed.

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ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge – Day 9 & 10

Day 9 – Word

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates was the best representation of Word. This letter written from a black father to his black son is a poignant must-read from Coates. It was recommended by Toni Morrison, who deemed it to be required reading. I hadn’t realized but apparently Coates is reading the audiobook. I feel like the next time I pick this one up I’ll read and listen to it simultaneously. Just to get an idea of this book, it begins like this, “Son, Last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body.” (Between the World and Me, p.5). It’s only 152 pages but you’ll be moved reading this emotional letter.

Day 10 – Heavy Read(s)

These are a few of the heavy reads I could find in my stash. I highly recommend three of the five in the stack – Heavy by Kiese Laymon which started my 2020 reading with a bang. Excellent! I read Hunger and simultaneously listened to the audiobook read by its author Roxane Gay. What a poignant read that made me feel all kind of emotions as well. The third book on this list is Beloved. I really remember how this book made me profoundly sad. These three heavy books will surely become modern classics because they take readers to raw realness. Now The Darkest Child we already talked about, very heavy but I will definitely be checking it out, especially since a lot of my followers over on Instagram highly recommended it to me. And last but not least Medical Apartheid which was recommended to me by a friend. This one should be a must read for everybody so they can learn about the contributions black Americans have brought to the medical field. Despite the heaviness of this book I will be checking it out in November for Nonfiction November. Can you think of any other heavy books that you’d like to recommend? Let’s chat below.

http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=browngirlreading

ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge 2020: Day 1 & 2

Black History Month is finally here and has taken off with a blast! Here’s where the photo challenge is at the moment for me:

Day 1: ReadSoulLit TBR

I’m a Booktube Prize judge this year and will be judging the first round which is happening this month. This won’t deter me from picking up these three novels I’ve chosen to honor reading black American authors during Black History Month. The Last Thing You Surrender is by seasoned writer Leonard Pitts, Jr. This is the ReadSoulLit Readalong pick for February. This is the first book I’ll be reading by Pitts, Jr. I’m really looking forward to it. This time period (the 1940s specifically World War II era) is one I find most interesting to read about in fiction novels. If you’re still interested in joining the read along group on Goodreads click this link to join us. It’s not too late. I’m sure the reading is going to be engrossing and the discussions thought-provoking.

The second book on my TBR is a debut called Stateway’s Garden by Jasmon Drain. Gifted to me by Penguin Random House, whom I thank graciously, I look forward to seeing how this memoir compares to the poignant, unforgettable, and brilliantly written Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon that was my first read of 2020. Stateway’s Garden takes place in a housing project on the south side of Chicago. It’s set in the mid-eighties and is a collection of linked short stories.

The third book in my stack is called Seeds of Deception by Arlene L. Walker. This is another debut novel which was released last summer. I don’t remember hearing a thing about it but after I caught a glimpse of the cover on the author’s Instagram page I was immediately interested. “A clash between Cherokee Indians and their former African slaves come to a head in the tribal town of Feather Falls.” (back cover Seeds of Deception). How could I pass on a story like this. I’ll be keeping you informed once I’m finished on what I think about Seeds of Deception in an upcoming review.

Day 2: Sci-fi High

If you’ve been following me for a while you all know that me and sci-fi just don’t get along when it comes to reading. I’m fine with it if it’s a film but for some reason I have IMG_2002-1 trouble absorbing all the world building that goes along with the enjoyment of complex sci-fi stories. In spite of this, last year I had the pleasure of reading the Xenogenesis series by Octavia E. Butler and really enjoyed it. In particular I enjoyed Dawn which is the first book of the trilogy. Dawn was mysterious, psychological, and sociological with just the right amount of science fiction to keep me interested throughout. Lilith is a character that the reader can immediately relate to and root for. The mystery in Dawn is at an all time high and will keep you riveted to the pages. I highly recommend it. Check out the video below of N.K. Jemisin talking about Dawn and her reactions to reading it for the first time.

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ReadSoulLit 2020

Black History month is nearing and I’m writing today to let you know about what I have planned to celebrate it literarily. Of course I’ll be hosting the 2020 #ReadSoulLit Photo Challenge over on Instagram. Get your books and picture ideas ready. This is one of the best moments to get book recommendations of black American authors. It’s a blast and it promises to be very Lit! Check out the monthly challenge below. If you don’t have Instagram don’t worry you can follow what I post over there here on the blog as well.

ReadSoulLit2020

Next I want to mention the ReadSoulLit 2020 Readalong. This February we’ll have the honor of reading The Last Thing I Surrender by Leonard Pitts, Jr. I can’t wait! I’ve wanted to check out a book by this author for a while now. It’s great giving attention to an author that seems to have been unnoticed by the book blogger community. Hopefully this read along will get people interested in Leonard Pitts, Jr’s backlist. If you’re interested in reading with us you can join the Goodreads reading group, under the rubric Community, called ReadSoulLit Readalong 2020 – The Last Thing You Surrender. You just have to request to join and I’ll confirm you.

There’s also another group you can join over on Goodreads called ReadSoulLit 2020. This group operates all year long where people can exchange over books from the diaspora. #ReadSoulLit focuses on black American authors in February, black British writers in October, and the entire diaspora the rest of the year.

Hopefully this February you’ll enjoy the videos, photo challenge, and discussions in the reading groups on books by African-American authors. There will surely be more surprises so I urge to follow me closely on here, on YouTube, and Instagram. Let’s have fun!