Posts tagged Book Review
Review: Lawrence Hill Reminds Us that Blood is Still Thicker than Water

If you enjoy a historical read, please do not let the page length keep you from reading this novel. Lawrence Hill has written a wonderfully funny, sensitive, and historically accurate novel that centers on one family—the Canes. Hill weaves the history of the Cane family through their migrations from the United States to where the family settled in Canada. Enjoy this review by one of our newest contributors, Cassandra Veney.

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Review: “I Can't Date Jesus” is a Hilarious and Thoughtful Look at Identity

I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé (2018) is Michael Arceneaux humorous essay collection exploring identity, religion, and fan culture.

makes you laugh and think as it combines a variety of stories stemming from Arceneaux’s life experiences.

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Review: My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi

Ibi Zoboi (EEE-bee zoe-Boy) is a Haitian-American, young adult writer most famous for her books American Street, Pride, and Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America. Her newest title, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, centers on Ebony-Grace Norfleet, a Star Trek loving southerner visiting her father in Harlem for the summer.

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Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis (Book Review)

I heard this story a few years ago during a Kwanzaa celebration. It stayed with me as a memorable way to introduce my own children to the holiday and I went searching for it. I grew up celebrating Kwanzaa in Florida, not knowing that it originated here in Los Angeles. See if Seven Spools of Thread is one you should add to your holiday book list.

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Trust by Daines L. Reed (Book Review)

One of the best ways to change a person’s mind is by giving them a great story. Take a subject that seems also impossible and place that impossibility within reach with thoughtful steps and descriptions. Author Daines Reed put in the work to create a moving story of what happens when women in a small community take care of their own in more ways that one.

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Between The World And Me by Ta Nehisi Coates (Book Review)

It took me a little over ten days to read Between the World and Me in the summer of 2016. When you find something so real and moving and painful, you can't help but want the other people in your life to feel those very real feelings too. Here is a long review of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 memoir.

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The Story of Us by Hanna Ali (Book Review)

In 2017, Hannah Ali published The Story of Us with Market Fifty Four, which launched in October of that year. She will be the first contemporary writer to be translated and published in Somali, her native language. The Story of Us is a collection of 4 short stories about womanhood from a Somali perspective.

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Alpha Females Unleashed: From the Boardroom to the Bedroom by C.C. Lyons (Book Review)

Written by C.C. Lyons, Alpha Females Unleashed: From the Boardroom to the Bedroom takes a look at how strong women, known as Alphas, tend to take charge and what that might mean for life and future happiness. She presented a wide range of ideas, but all coming back to the notion that knowing the ins and outs of an Alpha Female can help both men and women be their best selves for their partners, coworkers, and families. 

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So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Book Review)

So You Want To Talk About Race is a hybrid memoir and guidebook for discussing some of the toughest topics here in the U.S. Oluo uses her history and background to insert common racial topics onto her life, showing how the missteps of the majority population create a challenging world for people with Brown skin. Written to and for non-People of Color, So You Want To Talk About Race cuts to the heart of why this subject is so difficult. 

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Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (Book Review)

In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston traveled to Africatown, a small settlement in Georgia, to document the first-hand account of a man named Cudjo Lewis. Barracoon is the culmination of interviews Hurston collected over multiple trips about Lewis' life, including his capture, enslavement, and eventual release.

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