An excellent novel that follows fraternal twins being raised by their mother in their grandparents‘ home. They are often left to their devices and that leads to a traumatic event that will change things for the entire family. Superb writing and storytelling. Stunningly. unforgettable!

I read Nightwood for my podcast. It‘s considered the first lesbian novel and that is to its credit. However it wasn‘t my cup of tea. Mostly because it felt all over the place and at times the language is difficult to understand. Check out The Brown Girls Booking Podcast discussion, where Christi and I discuss identities, obsessions, and the masks we wear.

I haven‘t read this book since I was 12 or 13 so it was a real joy re-reading it and discussing it on the podcast with Christi. This is definitely an American classic that takes us through the ins and outs of life during the beginning of the twentieth century in Williamsburg. We follow Francine and her family and all the difficulties of being poor in America at that time. It‘s captivating, emotional, and informative. It‘s a must read!

This is an engrossing semi-autobiographical debut novel about the author‘s father. Jama is on a long voyage to find his father who left to find work. They have had no word since. Set in 1930s and 1940s in the Middle East, you will learn about the history of the area and so much more. Your emotions will be all over the place but it‘s so worth it. Breathtaking!

I just read Light in August for the second time. The first time was in college. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Joe Christmas. He was very unlikeable but somehow Faulkner mad me sympathetic to all he‘d been through. Light in August is written in a dark southern tradition. Patience to all those who don‘t get along with literary fiction. Brilliant writing and a plethora of interesting characters major and minor. It‘s a must read.

This is a memoir of Deborah Feldman‘s life inside the Hasidic Community in Williamsburg. I listened to this on audiobook and quickly got tired of the voice reading Feldman‘s part. One thing is that this book is more thorough and exact than the Netflix series which is not an accurate account and has no depth. If you know nothing about this community try but if you do give it a miss.

This is the story of Jinx and her family. She is having trouble connecting with her son and hasn‘t /isn‘t dealing with her family problems. Lemon a family friend knocks at the door and that encourages Jinx to relive everything. This book was lonlisted for The Man Booker Prize in 2011. Don‘t let gat deter you. It‘s an excellent story but extremely intense and can be triggering to some so beware. I highly recommend it!

This was the second book I read by PercivalEverett. It‘s not an easy read but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Thelonious Monk is a writer who hasn‘t gotmuch attentionfor his work.Erasure asks many questions such as What is good literature? As this is a book within a book, you‘ll enjoy the challenging read, laugh out loud, and marvel over Everett‘s skill in writing perfect métaphores that you won‘t have seen before.Definitely for experimental lit lovers.

I started The Rib long with high hopes but sadly this book just didn‘t deliver. The first 40% of the book we are introduced to quite a few interesting characters. The last 60% has a storyline that doesn‘t hit the high notes. Hubbard turns the story into something that isn‘t interesting at all. The book loses steam and I list interest. The writing is very good but Hubbard dabbles in way too many themes and the story gets lost - a real shame.

This short story collection is absolute fire. It‘s a deep look into Nigerian culture through a cast of varied characters who are larger than life. Each story makes a point to tell the reader something. The twists and turns of the stories will keep you engrossed. There are some sexual elements through out the collection but none of them are gratuitous.It‘s a quick read and one that would be great to talk about in a book club.

Pleasantview is a collection of linked short stories. They show the dark side of living on the island of Trinidad. Each chat is spotlighted for something in particular which will eventually in dome shape or form affect someone else. Mohammed writes with a brilliance that will engross you. There is a lyrical tone to her words which flow with ease over the pages. She leaves no stone unturned concerning relevant cultural themes. Great collection!

This is the story of a very special father-daughter relationship. It starts as a slow burn for the first 40% of the book but it soon takes the reader on a mysterious journey to find out more about the father. As a whole beautiful writing, despite the dialogue being a bit unnatural at times. The story has twists and turns that will keep you reading. The Unseen World is a 451-page captivating novel that you won‘t be sorry to have picked up.

This is the story of 150 years of the same family starting with Fela. She was ripped away from Nigeria because of The Transatlantic slave trade which brought her to Puerto Rico. The women that are born from her lineage tell the story of a stone and gifts that each woman possesses. This is a beautiful quintessential black girl magic story not to be missed. Highly engaging storytelling & excellent writing.

I highly recommended this well-written slave narrative. Told from the first person point of view, readers will follow the development of protagonist Pheby Delores Brown. She‘s a mulatto slave who can read books and maps and plays piano beautifully. She has high hopes of being set free for her 18th birthday, but that doesn‘t happen. Read to find out what happens next... The suspense is palpable. It is trauma filled so beware.

Thé Polygamist is the journey story of 4 women - Joyce, Essie, Matipa, and Lindani and their relationship with Jodasi. Sue Nyathi‘s debut novel takes a hard look at some of the ugly issues of polygamy, societal pressures in Zimbabwe surrounding marriage, and much more. The characters are flawed giving a sense of reality to the story. You will read this book in one sitting. Beware strong language and violence.

Third book club read of the 2020-2021 school year and I wasn‘t impressed. Sappy and overwritten this novel tried too hard to win its readers over. Doerr clearly didn‘t try to make the nook as authentic as he could. The addition of the precious stone could have been left out. The short chapters only helped to turn the pages quicker but didn‘t help me remain in the story. I‘m still trying to understand how this book won the Pulitzer Prize.

This is a wonderful read about how the reputation of a person can make you think and feel a whole lot of things, including that you are inferior. It‘s an interesting story with magnificent writing! One you are not likely to forget.

This is probably one if the best books I read all year and that‘s mostly because I learned so much from it. It took me 2 months to read but it was worth it. It‘s dense and extremely informative. I loved the writing and the few times their were statistics I was totally surprised by them. I highly recommend this book to people who are truly interested in learning about Black British people & enjoy history as a whole. You won‘t learn this in school.

This nonfiction story reads like fiction.A daughter writes the story of her mother‘s brief disappearance for 3 days at a very young age. The best point of this story is the writing. Cumming uses descriptions of paintings and family photos to engross their reader in finding out her mother‘s story. Clearly obsessed, the author turns the different ideas and possibilities of people‘s action despite not being able to find all the answers. I recommend.

This is the 2nd book I‘ve read by Leonard Pitts Jr and it was a fantastic read. He writes historical fiction beautify. We follow Sam who goes back to the south right after slavery was abolished to find is Love Tilda. An interesting storyline which isn‘t explored very much. I highly recommend this book and The Last Thing You Surrender, which was the 1st book I read this year by this author. Discussion tonight with my patreon book club. Can‘t wait!

The Book of Echoes follows Ngozi in Nigeria and Michael in Brixton. We watch how they get through their difficult lives and how those difficulties mold them into the adults they become. All of trois while a close ancestor watches over them telling us snatches of her story. Beautiful writing and moving scenes worthy of being captured on film, I highly recommend this debut novel by Rosanna Amaka.

This aid a poignant and harrowing novel that explores the difficulty of illegal immigration from Zimbabwe to South Africa. It follows the stories of seven characters and how they fair once they teach the city of gold. It‘s tragic and unforgettable so you‘ll need to get your mind to read this one. I highly recommend it! This is Sue Nyatji‘s second novel and I‘m anxious to get to her debut The Polygamist.

I highly recommend this second book by Britt Bennett. Twins Stella and Desiree leave their small town for New Orleans. Difficult living drives Stella to pass for white and to eventually live a whole new life. Themes of colorism, racism, class, mother daughter relationships, are some of themes running through the novel. And also expect a whole lot of vanishing happening too. Great read!

I really enjoyed this one. Basu tells a wonderful story about an Indian family that‘s become wealthy and how they adapt to suddenly having a lot of money. The story has moments that will make you laugh and smile. Basu introduces the reader to Indian culture through each character. It‘s a shame more black American writers don‘t write stories like this light but informative. I highly recommend it!

I was really excited to read this book for the Booktube Prize semifinals. This is not just another refugee novel. It‘s so much more than that. Beautifully written Lefteri will rope you into caring about the main characters and you‘ll be rooting for them to the very end.

Chevalier us a seasoned writer and was really disappointed with the way she wrote this book. Basing the book on an English woman known for her needlework who isn‘t a main character was not a great idea. The book doesn‘t get moving until around page 95. Yeah so basically a little boring. I suggest picking up the audiobook if you‘re really interested in this one.

Read this one for the Booktube Prize. It was my first read from Patchett. Story of a brother and sister‘s relationship once they‘ve been thrown out of their family house by their stepmother. It‘s an interesting take on family but I wasn‘t over the moon about it. It‘s good but not great. It‘s also probably not the best place to start with Patchett either.

This year is the 20th anniversary of Sugar. If you haven‘t read this bid I strongly suggest you do. It‘s a wonderful story of how two women‘s meeting changes their lives. Sugar Lacey waltzes into Bigelow, Arkansas and Pearl and Joe won‘t be ready to forget her. Told through life like characters, this story begins with tragedy and builds towards hope. Pick up the new edition of Sugar and enjoy! It was a reread for me and I loved it even more.

Sadly this is a 2 star book that should have been 4 stars. Lowe has been dressing as a man since his arrival in Jamaica. Hé learns a lot about this new place that is extremely different from China. As I reader you will learn about the many layers of the people and life in Jamaica as well as the adversity and hardship colonialism as left behind. I recommend it even though there are missing scenes and overwriting.

I read this for my book club and it was my second reading. This epic novel follows 3 black Americans Ida, George, and Robert on their quest to escape Jim Crow in te south. Beautifully written and is considered to be narrative nonfiction The Warmth of Other Suns is engrossing and instructive. It should be compulsory reading in schools and a must read for all Americans!

Fifteen year old Ana has been married off to a man twice her age and brought to America to make a new life, which will hopefully bring her immediate family over eventually. Ohs problems with this novel because I hated the way the black community was written in this novel. It‘s disparaging and unnecessary. To make her colorism point Cruz needed to do a lot more work. The story is predictable and there really isn‘t anything special about it.

This was an interesting debut novel by Reid who explores the difficulties of class and race and how they can effect us through situations that we read about or see on social. Eduardo. Reid puts a young 20 something black girl who babysits for a 30 something rich while woman. All of the the problematic comments and lack of boundaries that happen will lead the reader to look at relationships between blacks and whites. ⭐️⭐️⭐️for me.

An engrossing short story collection from Nigerian author Abubakar Adam Ibrahim. 11 engrossing stories that will have you looking forward to the next Tooted in realism with touches of magical realism that make each store interesting while shedding light on relationships between men and women. I highly recommend it.

Acevedo does it again! I thoroughly enjoyed this story of 2 families - one in the Dominican Republic and the other in New York. The reader follows 2 half sisters who meet each other because of the death of their father. Beautifully poetic! Not a perfect book but damn near close to being one. I highly recommend it!

Was very excited to get to this one but sadly it didn‘t deliver. The writing was vivid and intelligent, however there was virtually no plot and that made the book drag. It felt like reading vignettes or short stories but Baby of the Family is presented as a book. It‘s basically a coming of age story. There is a part 2 called The Hand I Fan With and I will eventually get to it. Baby of the Family was Ansa‘s debut novel.

Colson Whitehead has won his 2nd Pulitzer Prize for fiction with The Nickel Boys. He won the first one with The Underground Railroad in 2017. If you haven‘t read these 2 book you should give them a try,

This is my second read from Christos Tsiolkas. It was fantastic! Daniel Kelly is from a working class family and is accepted at a fancy school on a swimming scholarship. Barracuda explores what it takes to be a good swimmer and the difficultés of becoming a man. Told in a nonlinear fashion and through 1st and 3rd person, I was totally engrossed and admired Tsiolkas‘s intelligent writing ability.

Nicole Dennis-Benn‘s 2nd novel is even better than her first Here Comes the Sun. The story follows Patsy who leaves Jamaica and her subsequently her 5-year old daughter looking for more out of life. This novel explores motherhood, immigration, inter generational issues, gender roles. With her intelligent descriptive writing Dennis Benn will have hooked from the first paragraph, despite the unlikeable characters. I highly recommend!!!

This is an oldie from 1998. It began with the question What is a black man?.Close to the Bone explores this question while following 2 young black men, Walker and Hal. The story jumps to the past giving us information on the characters. Intelligently written with interesting characters both main and secondary, Lamar will have you shaking your head in agreement, cracking up laughing, and clutching your pearls. Excellent read. Highly recommend!

This was a short book but felt like it was 400+ pages. It‘s a grieving mother‘s imaginary conversation with her son who has committed suicide. Sadly I didn‘t like anything about this book. In particular the dead son had an awful personality and I didn‘t appreciate the way he spoke to his mother. I just wanted it to be over quickly. If it wasn‘t for the Booktube Prize judging, I probably would have DNF-ed it.

This was my first Winterson book. This is another dual timeline book. We are following Mary Shelley as she creates Frankenstein in the past and a man in the future who makes sexbots for lonely men.From there there is a lot of talk about sex and what it is to men and women, transgender doctor and sexbots with enhanced AI. Too much going on got my taste. Less is more. I didn‘t mind reading it but its real intention is not particularly clear to me.

The story of a young woman‘s real discovery of the region of Kashmir. The Far Field explores how being sheltered your whole life can impair judgement and not see things for what they really are. This book is an interesting look into India and its relationship to the region of Kahmir. Beware the first 100 pages are not very engrossing but beyond that the book is very interesting.

Written by a Palestinien/American, this dual time line story explores arranged marriage and the place of women within it and the community. Cloistered in this Brooklyn community the reader will learn about the expectations of Palestinien women - what they must endure. A melancholic story written well and will have you rooting for both mother and daughter.

This was my first read by Téa Obreht. This‘d revised western with camels and ghosts never managed to pull me in. Had some interesting themes are puns women‘s rights but as a whole it was a bit of a slog to read.

This was a huge let down for me. I had to read it for the Booktube Prize, since Wi was judging Round 1 Group C. Deals with interesting themes but the experimental lifeless writing left me behind. I wouldn‘t recommend it unless you like that d‘import of thing. The whole thing felt very gimmicky to me.

This book was not at all what I expected. I DNF-Ed after reading 200 pages. I couldn‘t find a thing interesting about it. Unlikeable characters, dry plot, and the main detective Emma Djian boring. This is book 1 of the Emma Djian séries but he‘ll have to step it up for the following books. Detective novels need mystery and intrigue and thibook had none of the above. Would definitely try something else by Quartey though.

I decided to read this for #aussieapril. Was excited to try Winch‘s debut novel which is over 10 years old. Sadly it didn‘t do it for me. Over writing, excessive use of metaphors, and a middle of the book that needed some severe editing. However despite all of this you can see that she has the ability to write, so I‘ll be happy to read her latest novels The Yield, which I‘m sure is very good.

I was very reticent about reading this book for my book club but in the end I found it brilliant. The premise is a very sad subject -father abusing his daughter. But this book is so much more. Tallent shows us how victims wind up staying with their abusers. Exquisite writing, beautifully written nature scenes, believable well-developed characters, perfect pacing and it‘s a debut novel. I highly recommend it!

This is the third book in the four-book cozy mystery called the Blanche White series. I highly recommend this series which stars Blanche White a domestic worker who solves mysteries in spite of it all. The late great author of this series Barbara Neely continued to mix mystery, social commentary, and murder with intelligence and the sassy voice of Blanche. I can‘t wait to get to book 4 but am regretting that it‘s the last book in the series.

Set during the Palestinian and Syrian independence movements between the first and second world wars, Isabella Hammad explores how wars and social change effect families over time. This broad sweeping account written in beautiful literary fiction prose will make you think. As excellent as si thought it was The Parisian is not a perfect novel and not for everyone. I enjoyed the snatched of French and Arabic as well as the interesting characters.