“My work is to give you what I know of my own particular path while allowing you to walk your own.”
*****
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.
Read MoreAlbert recently completed one of the 2019 Booker prize winners, Girl, Woman, Other. “The novel reads like a collection of short stories, with each of the twelve characters being given their own chapter, culminating in a grand reception that craftily threads them together.”
Read MoreWelcome, Deborah Harris, one of our newest contributors! She took to reviewing The Friends this week, a work by Rosa Guy, about complicated relationships, poverty, and life in 1960s Harlem.
Read MoreContributor Krysten Jackson gives us a breakdown of her thoughts on Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemis.
Read MoreIbi 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.
Read MoreThere is no doubt that Rod Palmer has this process on autopilot. His new book is a twist in the who-done-it and his response to making a change within the genre of Urban Fiction.
Read MoreMatthew Williams may not be putting “writer” as his day job, but that could be changing in the very near future. This Los Angeles native has authored his first novel, The Bridge Home.
Read MoreOne 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.
Read MoreHave you ever had a book hangover? You can't focus and you feel a little sick. I get them sometimes if the content is partially intense for the writing is so good that I have invested heavily into it. That was the kind of experience I had once I finished Kindred.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreThis list is a (short) collection of fiction written by Black women about Black womanhood. Do I really have to say that I recommend them?
Read MoreAn American Marriage is a hard book to ignore. That shiny "Oprah's Book Club" sticker pulls you in, just long enough to read the dust jacket. It must be good, right? Knowing very little about Tayari Jones before her book blew up, I'm grateful that her beautiful writing is being celebrated.
Read MoreWhen some of the coolest women in my life live in the pages of a book, these are the ones I would want to have in my ultimate girl group. (Originally apperaed on the site Book Riot.)
Read MoreWords With Wings is a collection of poems as told in a first-person story. It's a pretty cool concept where every page is a poem but progresses the story of Gabby the daydreamer. When she thinks of a word, it has the power to fill her mind with images of her past. According to all the adults in her life, she has trouble focusing. Her daydreaming doesn't get any better once her parents split and she has to adjust to life at a new school. All she has is her daydreaming but has that finally gotten in the way of navigating her reality?
Read MoreI didn’t expect to finish Binti so quickly, especially since my responsibilities are a little more pressing than they use to be. But I just couldn't stop. I wandered around the house with this book in my hand the entire day, moving from room to room when interrupted. Obsession would be an accurate way to put it. I read all 85 pages before the sun had gone down.
Read MoreI almost didn't finish this book. I knew what was on the other side of this finished book and I never felt ready to face it.
Read MoreIf I had to guess where the character Nandi gets her confidence, I wouldn't have to look any further than her creator, Ama Kuma. Here is how a chance encounter introduced me to Kuma and added Nandi to my reading list.
Read MoreSumer is gone and Skin is In
Read MoreAnyone up for poetry masquerading as a novel?
Read MoreFor at least a year, Parable of the Sower sat on my (borrowed) shelf and I went on with my life. I was unfamiliar with the life and work of Octavia Butler and so, I did not know how important this book would be.
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