Black Cake | 
pickSo good! Two estranged siblings come together after their mother‘s death to settle her estate. Their mother left them a recording in which she tells them the truth about herself and their family, bringing many secrets to light. The story is told in a non-linear timeline and in many POVs, but it‘s not confusing at all.
#bookspinbingo
#20in4
#jumpstart2023
#pop23 - book with a color in the title
#botm
pick
pickMultigenerational novel, spanning locations from Caribbean island origins to UK, Italy, Cali. Estranged siblings learn their deceased mother‘s secrets. Short chapters, straightforward prose. Inheritance, tradition, discrimination, recipes, adoption, culture, identity. Maybe a few TOO many twists? Felt like unending revelations. Refrain: “What are you willing to do? And is it worth it?” P166 “The beauty of a thing justified its plunder.” 2022
pick“Black Cake” by Charmaine Wilkerson is a beautiful, multi-generational story of a family that will both tear your heart apart but will also make you say, “everything happens for a reason”. 🥹♥️ My first five star read of 2023 🙌
pickI enjoyed the book, I reflected a lot about my family generational traditions, recipes and culture. How our journey even as siblings differs. I enjoyed the different twist and turns, apart from the ending 🫣
pickThis is a story of a mother who left behind the true story of her life to her children. The mother had told her children that she was an orphan but her story is so much more complicated and heartbreaking. The novel is an easy read. 4/5
The tagged was my choice for #BOTY. It was the only one I had any interest in. Anyone read it? I loved the author of the other book, A Flicker in the Dark so I gave her another chance to wow more!!
What were your choices?!
Can you believe that 2022 is almost over?!?! I can‘t!!! 💜💜💜💜💜
pickI listened to the audiobook, and the narration is excellent. An estranged brother and sister meet after the death of their mother to settle her estate. They find that their mother has left a recording for them. She reveals the origins of their family and exposes many secrets. This is a lovely novel of family, love, heartbreak, and survival. I highly recommend!
pickI love this book. Lots of back and forth in time periods and different people's perspectives but not confusing at all. I couldn't put the book down. Nice easy read as the chapters are short. My book also came with the black cake recipe 😋
pickI liked this book although there was a lot of going back & forth between different people. For me it flowed & made a good story. I enjoyed the history of Jamaica that the author used. It was a good story but I feel that the author tried to cram in as much history as possible into one story (i. e., Eleanor had the most inconceivable amount of bad luck for one person). I almost wished she had written two separate stories to cover all she wanted to.
pick9-22 Oct 22 (audiobook)
Family secrets told to an estranged brother and sister posthumously through the reading of their mother‘s will. Twists and turns but ultimately this fulfilled the hopeless romantic in me, although it is definitely not a romance.
Not sure whether the narrative voice or just the narrator‘s voice rang through with the cadences of the Caribbean, but that was the highlight for me.
A good story from Obama‘s recommendations.
“Question yourself, yes, but don‘t doubt yourself. There‘s a difference.” This Boot was simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful. I enjoyed the writing and the story immensely. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don't know how I feel about these being #BOTM's top 5 for Book of the Year, but I'm glad to see Black Cake among them since that's the one I was hoping to get as my freebie 😆
Friday has left building and it‘s time to prep for the week but my weekend was All Booked, what about yours? Drop your title in the comments. #weekendreads #allbooked #blackcake
pickI've been hesitating to pick this up because it's gotten such a buzz around it and I've found myself underwhelmed by recent buzzy books but this one didn't disappoint. Wilkerson had such good pacing to keep you turning pages and the story was crafted so wonderfully. Eleanor's story was so compelling and bittersweet - and learning it alongside her children as they grieved was a beautiful way for it to unfold.
I'm a little underwhelmed by the #BOTM Book of the Year finalists (at least among those that I've actually read). So I'm voting for Black Cake in the hopes that it will be a finalist so that I can get it for free 😬
✨Tagged
✨ I‘m never really ready for autumn…
✨ Nelson Cruz and Luke Voit say sun‘s out, guns out
#thoughtfulthursday
pickMeeting tomorrow to discuss with my IRL Book Club.
I had never heard of the Caribbean Black Cake. It was a thread that ran through this story of siblings discovering,after their mother‘s death, many, many secrets. Interesting characters. Strong women. Far fetched. Filled with surprises. Just keep swimming. 🏊🏽♀️
Tagged book was the only one I finished during the #readathon but as usual I was reading bits and pieces of other books along the way.
In my defense, I got a last minute invitation to the ballgame Tuesday night, and that cut into my reading time. It was a lousy game, but I enjoyed the company.
pickWow! I really liked this book. The way the story unfolds is great. It‘s a bit of a mystery and also the life story of Benny & Byron‘s mom. They realize she‘s been lying to them their whole life and they hear her story after her death. I‘m glad I picked this as a #BOTM book, but then listened to the audio. It was great on audio!
1. So many choices! I just finished the tagged book, so I‘ll go with that.
2. Interesting story. Compelling characters (though one was a little tiresome at times). Lovely writing.
#two4tuesday
It‘s a great day to sit in the shade of this Poinciana tree and read this book. 🙂
pickMy #bookspin for this month.Brother & sister Byron & Benny have been estranged for years , their mothers death will bring them together to hear a tape that references some family mysteries & secrets.A wonderful story of culture, history, estrangement, and what people must do to survive.All wrapped up with a special feeling for Black Cake , a family recipe that always feels like home.I really loved this novel!
1. Probably. I know I‘ve done it for movies and songs.
2. I‘m always juggling multiple books. I‘ll probably turn to the tagged book next.
#two4tuesday
Thought it best to start my IRL Book Club read. The meeting is fast approaching!
Excited to start my book club book for this week!
This book haul will hopefully pull me out of the reading depression I‘ve been in. The last few months I‘ve started then stopped and started again without completion while hoping one of the books will be THE ONE. The Ashwaghanda tea had me at hello and is helping me relax my mind, body and soul.
pickBeautifully written family saga with lots of secrets and history. Loved the mom‘s post death communication to her kids to explain what was dangerous for everyone to know. Excellent book!
My #bookspin is Black Cake , I‘ve had it since #BoTM offered it.I hear/read good things , also , it is on Obama‘s summer reading list.My #doublespin is The Six , it has been on my TBR for a long time.Glad I‘m playing this month!
pickI loved the slow reveal of this one! A mother has just passed and left a lengthy confession to her children in hopes of bring them together. That‘s really the tip of the iceberg.
This book was so rich with characters and family drama (without it being over the top). I highly recommend it if you like Brit Bennet. It‘s very much contemporary literature that has multiple conflicts and could generate in depth discussions on family issues.
pickHighly enjoyable deep dive into a unique family and surrounding characters. I felt it was maybe 100 pages too long and repeated certain themes slightly too much (estrangement, characters grappling with identity without much development) but the writing was excellent and the characters were vibrant and memorable.
so-soIt was just ok. It was unnecessarily long. Too many modern day issues crammed into one novel. I didn‘t care for this one:
pickBlack Cake follows generations of 1 family for 2 different timelines, touches on sexism, racism, colorism, LGBT issues AND features complicated secrets & estranged family. I feel like I HAVE TO compare this to the Vanishing Half. I could write an essay but I‘ll spare you. I LOVED Benadetta &Mrs. Bennet &her unwieldy complicated life. There are some side plots that veer astray from the book‘s themes &seemed unnecessary. But it was overall v good.
pickThis was written beautifully. The author has a way with words and it does not go unnoticed in this book. I liked the story but I felt like it could have been shorter. It felt like it just went on too long and I started to lost interest toward the middle. Also, with it jumping around and so many characters, it was a lot to take in by the end. The story definitely pulls at your heart and it ended very nicely.
pickIn this sprawling and ambitious novel, Charmaine Wilkerson tells the story of a cake, family secrets, sibling relationships, identity, festering resentments, lies, and love. I enjoyed the story but confess that I did not love the story structure and narrative devices. Readers are smart and there‘s no problem in figuring it all out, but at times the flashbacks and switching storylines made it a more challenging read.
pick#booked2022 #includesarecipe
I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a good story with the narrative of problems facing people leaving the Caribbean islands and going to the U.K./U.S
I don‘t have a picture of a black cake - but here‘s my daughter‘s 21st cake 😁 it‘s family party tonight and I sneak read the end of this book in the bath this afternoon before chaos descends.
so-soI finally finished this one today. I never felt vested nor bonded with the characters. I was curious how things were going to pan out but in parts it was really slow and felt like the author was just trying to put a bunch of scientific and research information in there without really rounding it out. It just didn‘t flow well to me. I‘d never heard of black cake before so that part was interesting. This one was just a miss for me.
pickEnjoyed this. It was a bit difficult to keep track of who was who but the story was engaging and the pacing good.
The afterward about the history of different races in the Caribbean and UK and how they were treated - mainly Asian Caribbean people was informative and important.
pickI loved the start of this and then finished it with mixed feelings. I think it‘s probably me, not the book, as I‘ve been struggling a bit lately to take an interest in things. I‘m reading this as part of a book club with my family this summer, so I‘ll be curious what the other readers think!
pickThoroughly enjoyed this book! Not at all what I expected, but that made reading it, even more enjoyable. It was easy to follow the characters through each of their chapters, and I loved what the Black Cake signified to their family. Traditions like that are not so commonly passed down as much anymore.
pickWhat started as a rainy, dreary day turned sunny and beautiful in the afternoon, so I took advantage of my day off to do some patio-reading ☀️📚 This was a wonderful book that, while predictable at times, was still great storytelling and kept me hooked. This was my June #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks
