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
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!
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My December 2019 ended with a bang because I was lucky enough to read 
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.
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.
m
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.
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!
I chose the memoir by Michaela De Prince called 
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!
and 2020 is no different. I decided to go with 
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 
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.
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.
has been sitting on my shelves for over 2 years. Why? Because I’m not sure I can bear reading the abuse that I imagine it contains and that my followers on Instagram have subsequently confirmed.
you pick up this edition (ISBN: 9781616958725).
original fashion to recount a slave narrative.
history of slavery in all its emotion and accuracy.
Day 3 – Roots and Books made me start looking deeply into my shelves. Having started this year with the powerful memoir, Heavy by Kiese Laymon. I felt like roots had to be taken figuratively and literally. Combing my shelves I fell upon How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. I forgot I had that one. This is a collection of essays by Laymon where he covers race, family, coming of age in Mississippi, violence, etc. I’m sure this is going to be another powerful read that will continue on from the depth of 
Cooper I read A Piece of Mine, and a few others. I can solidly recommend A Piece of Mine and Water Street. If you’ve never picked up books by J. California Cooper or by Crystal Wilkinson you don’t know what you’re missing. Both of these short