Here Comes the Sun: A Novel | 
You can tell this novel was written by an author who went through a creative writing programme. I'm not fond of those but I recognise the quality of the writing, the message and the emotional punches, so don't be put off by my lukewarm review if the book's description appeals to you. It won awards!
#FoodandLit #Jamaica #LGBTQI+
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
Photo of a Jamaican resort much like the one described in the book from wikipedia
Sunday lunch was escovitch fish, rice and peas, callaloo. Recipes from https://jamaicanfoodsandrecipes.com (I halved the sugar amount for the escovitch because I don't want to eat fish jam). Happy w/ the way the callalloo turned out; the rest needs tweaking for my taste 😊
To pair w/ the song Sunday Dish by Early B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gce8Pd7yhXQ
There's plenty more to explore!
#FoodandLit #Jamaica
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
My April reads. Lots of 5⭐️ reads this month! I loved Here Comes the Sun, both Jesmyn Ward books, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Transcendent Kingdom, and The Crimson Petal and the White.
I also had three bails this month- high for me but why waste time with a book that‘s not working for me.
Looking forward to whatever books May brings. 🌸🌺🌼
pickAnother beautiful book from Nicole Dennis-Benn that gave me all the feelings.
I love the Jamaican setting, the two main characters who are sisters with quite a few years between them. Older sister Margot wants so much for Thandi to have a better life than she‘s had, and she‘s willing to do just about anything for that to happen.
Although heartbreaking and enraging, I could relate to both sisters and I really loved this book. #autobuyauthor
She gives Margot an apologetic look, but Margot is wary; she sees a dark satisfaction under its mute plea for forgiveness. “At di end ah di day, dis is we life. Look around yuh, gyal. Look where yuh is. Dis piece ah ground worth more than we. Yah see dis air we breathing? Is debt we owing.”
pickIt is the grace with which Nicole Dennis-Benn gives us fullness & complexity with these women. The way this novel is real with everything it touches on and then holds and holds well. The Jamaican Patois that she gifts us on which the story unfolds. Yes. Yes.
pickThis is a beautifully tragic story of multigenerational trauma, poverty and hardship. While none of the characters are particularly “likable” I still wanted them to succeed, find happiness and security in their lives.
pickAn absolute must-read. Heartbreaking and frustrating at the same time. Damaged characters that you feel sorry for but also recognize the hurt they cause. It's about intergenerational trauma caused by white colonisation in Jamaica. Definitely recommend but it's a tough read. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Absolutely loving this one so far. The narrator bahni Turpin is incredible. Such a captivating story. #audiobooks #pridemonth #lgbtqbooks #blackauthors #blackstories
Post 4/7
Named a Best Book of 2016 by the NY, NPR, Buzzfeed, San Francisco Chronicle, The Root, & Book Riot, this debut novel has a cast of unforgettable women battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their Jamaican village. #pridemonth #diversereads
Support black-owned bookstores, buy it here: https://bookshop.org/lists/our-faves-right-now
pickThis book is brilliant, Shakespearean even. Such richly drawn characters and a heartbreaking situation.
pickA wonderful book and definitely one of my highlights this year. Dennis-Benn asks important questions: what is important to us? What are we willing to sacrifice? Whom are we willing to sacrifice? And is it worth it?
so-soThis wasn‘t my favourite. All of the characters are too angry and none of them seem to have a good day. I didn‘t come away with the warmest feelings about it.
I started off loving this book, but that changed.
Winning the prizes for ‘longest tine on my litsy tbr‘ and ‘OMG 😍 all-the-covers‘, this has to be my pick for #CaribbeanQueen #wanderingJune . One day!
Seriously, it‘s been raining all day, until we start doing our spin class, When the sun comes out and suddenly the spin studio is like a sauna!🙄
#BookFitnessChallenge Week 5 summary:
🥘 I have not quite kept within calories but I have been far more mindful, and honest, about what I‘m eating.
🚶♀️ 122,949 steps! Well in excess of my 105,000 target for the week.
📚 polished off three books this week, taking me to my target of 9!
bailedMy first bail in months, I found myself 70% of the way through and dreading listening to it anymore. While the writing was beautiful and the lush backdrop setting of Jamaica drew me in, there were a lot of triggers that the author lingered on over and OVER in every single chapter and it just made me sick to my stomach listening to it. Characters I should have felt pity for I ended up hating for the choices they made that hurt others.
pick“The black seeps into her, masking any sentiments, mangling any desire to forgive, hardening the weak pulp of a muscle beating inside her chest.”
5/5 This book is so raw and honest. It touches on heavy subjects such as sexual assault, colorism, fetishization, homophobia, and how tourism negatively affects the native community in Jamaica. Overall, this book truly reflects the harsh reality of life as a woman in Jamaica in its fictional pages.
I wish #ICanSeeTheSuninLateDecember, but unfortunately, Denmark is grey as always. At least I can always look at this bright and sunny cover when I need some light in my life 🌞
#WinterWonderland
pickThis was a heartbreaking story, but well written. Very few likeable characters but the story is good enough to keep you reading. #kindlitsy read.
Hey guys!!! 🤩🤩 I got a #kindlitsy kindle book from the amazing kaye !! I can‘t tag her for some reason but I want to say thanks!! 😍 This will help ignite my goal of reading more black women writers!
Day 9. Books that take place on an island.
#bookreadhappyhour
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☀️i still think about this debut novel from last summer...despite it being in one of my favorite locations, JA 🇯🇲, a sunny locale does not make for a bright setting. 💔Anyone else enjoy this as much as I did? I CAN NOT WAIT until the release of her next novel.
#24in48 #hour12 #challenge A whole new world. This fantastic family drama from Jamaica is a page-turning tour de force. If you haven‘t read it yet, you should!
Even though Margot, the MC of this book, would rather say #IKissedaGirl, she has to sell her body to men she doesn‘t like, to keep her little sister from having to do the same. In a community where homosexuality is taboo, and where your family‘s needs are more important than your own, Margot struggles to find her place, and to find love 💔
#HeatinJuly
pickThis book was so evocative. Dennis-Benn describes so many sides of Jamaica in such detail. I felt like I could hear the ocean and taste the food and see the people. It was definitely hard to read in (many) places, but it felt honest. This was a fabulous #ownvoices debut AND it‘s one of my favorite #pridereads this year 💛💚💚💜❤️🧡
#blacklitsy
so-soEverything hurts. Don‘t let this pretty cover fool you
pickJust got home from book club. What a fantastically written book. Warning: the title is a little misleading, but still worth the read! I loved it.
panUnfortunately this didn't work well for me. The scene setting was beautiful and I appreciated some of the issues the author explores. But the story is just intensely dreary AND slow as hell. Like, nothing happens. It's just a day followed by a day etc etc. I didn't feel any connection to the characters aside from Thandi. And I was really disgusted by what Margot did to Novia. Plus I admit the patois could be extremely hard to grasp. 2/5 ⭐️
Not possible to read this title without humming it to the tune, I have found. #nowreading
pickCan‘t remember the last time I repeatedly yelled “Noooooo, please don‘t do that!!!” at a book. 😢 Many of the characters‘ decisions were deeply upsetting, but Dennis-Benn does such a beautiful job of portraying their context and aftermath. The level of tragedy and pain is rough. But I loved the writing so, so much and definitely consider it a five-star read. And as always Bahni Turpin‘s audio performance was perfection.
I was first to arrive at the Edmonton Lesbian Book Club tonight. Audreys, an independent book store, has been hosting our monthly meetings for over a decade. We discussed Here Comes the Sun—everyone loved it. Tragic, much to talk about.
http://lesbianbookclub.blogspot.ca/
Margot learns quickly that she has to sell and work everything she‘s got to make sure her sister, Thandie, doesn‘t have to the same. #Sheworkshardforthemoney so Thandie can go to school and be everything Margot isn‘t.
#FierceFeb
pickSet in Jamaica, this story of three women (a mother and her two daughters) examines the harsh reality of what it takes to survive, the sacrifices made, and the different ways in which each go about doing so. While these are not necessarily likable characters, the way in which they manipulate themselves & each other makes for an interesting story. The reader for the audio nails it — I‘d recommend that format.
If you enjoy a soak and a book I paired bath bombs and books 🛁📚: https://bookriot.com/2018/02/07/book-and-bath-bomb-pairings/
My #idealbookatoir is anywhere near a body of water. This is Anna Maria Island, FL, where the Gulf meets Tampa Bay. Last place I've been with water, a beach and a book. Heaven! 😇
#TobeYoungGiftedandBlack and write debuts like these are pretty amazing! I will definitely pick up anything new by these authors, since I loved all of the books above 👌📚
#FierceFeb
I an‘ I did know weh me want long ago. An‘ it didn‘t have nothing to do wid weh dem teach inna school. Dem creating robots outta our children, Margot. Is di white man‘s philosophy dem learning. What about our heritage and culture?” He kisses his teeth. “Ah Babylon business dem ah fill up di children‘s minds wid
pickDon't be fooled by the fun cover - this is a deep and devastating novel. It follows a family (mother and two daughters) living in Jamaica and the ways they compromise themselves and each other.
Day 6: #booksandbells
Of course I didn‘t buy those bells with my holiday decorations just to have something for this picture! (Reader, I did)
#decktheshelves
Margot gave up everything to give her little sister a better future than what she could see for herself. Her principles, her body and her soul. #SoldmySoul
This debut is hard hitting, raw and brutal, but it is also amazing insanely good 👌
#TuneintoNovember
Started this one in audio today. Very good so far, and free in Hoopla! (Lauren talked about it on reading envy episode 097.)
My current #hoopla #audiobook, and also a very depressing listen so far, especially given the cheerful cover. I have a feeling it's going to crush my soul. At least I can cross stitch while it's doing that! #audiostitching
It‘s a rainy day and I wish I could just stay in bed reading this vibrant book...
pickThis one plods along for a couple hundred pages, and then -- BAM! It explodes like a firecracker. Or perhaps a piñata. Fantastic storytelling and compelling characters. Converging plot lines and layers of intrigue. Joins The Nix and Hag-Seed as my top fiction of 2016. This one is a perfect gem of a book, with many twinkling facets. Highest recommendation -- don't miss it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
