January: a book with high expectations - Becoming Duchess Goldblat by Anonymous (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) Bonus: bought because of the hype - Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski (Ballantine Books, 2019)
February: #BlackLitChallenge (see below) including two books from my bookshelf: Kindred by Octavia Butler (original publication Doubleday, 1979) Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Avon, 2019)
Read Black Authors
January:Blanche Cleans Up by Barbara Neely (Penguin Books, 1998); 3rd book in the Blanche on the Lam mystery series Blanche deals with systemic racism, assault by racists, colorism in the black community and raising two children, all while figuring out the odd goings on in the home of her current employer and solving murder along the way. These novels are funny, well-plotted mysteries and intense social commentary.
February:#BlackLitChallenge hosted by The Artisan Geek - 4 books / 4 countries, instructions here U.S.A.: Kindred by Octavia Butler (original publication Doubleday, 1979) - Compelling time-travel tale of a young Black woman sent back from 1980s to slavery in the 1860s. U.K.: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Avon, 2019) - Sexy, funny romance with a heroine who lives with chronic pain. Yep, that's what I said. I now want to read everything by Talia Hibbert. Ghana: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medea (Algonquin Books, 2020) - A young woman feels honored to enter an arranged marriage with an eligible young man in the city, but learns that she must stand up for herself in the midst of competing family priorities. Kenya: Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (Penguin Books, 2002; originally published, 1977) - Ngugi is professor emeritus at the university where I work. I have heard him speak of the risks to his life resulting from his writing, including the publication of this book. A murder investigation that is a searing condemnation of the legacies of colonialism.