pickBeautiful and gripping writing, the kind that makes me interested in topics I thought I wasn't interested in or had never heard about. I did get a bit lost in the nitty gritty of basketball stuff sometimes, but that also might be because Hanif Abdurraqib has a soothing voice that lulled me into losing focus. I do wish he'd discussed *my* favourite 90s (okay technically 2000) basketball movie, Love & Basketball though! 🏀 ❤️
"Maybe my mother is God, and that's why nothing I do pleases her. Maybe my mother is God, and that's why even though she never once saved me, I keep praying that this time she will."
Wow, what a beginning that this book is absolutely living up to.
#BlackBooks #QueerBooks #Horror
Getting Bernard Black vibes
#audiobooks
She even mentions toast on the ceiling!
Omg she mentioned Bernard Black! I'm sold
#blackbooks
pickA gorgeous character-driven collection of interconnected graphic short stories about four Black women in the Bronx, focusing on their hair routines as a starting point for aspects of their lives: dating, mental health, work, friendship, and family relationships. The art is beautiful w/ colouring to depict the mood. The details of the hair routines were impeccable, clearly love and intimate knowledge went into them. This book has queer rep too!
pickNot my favourite Talia Hibbert, tbh, but am I sorry I read it? Of course not. I liked the himbo representation and the fact that the declaration of love finally! arrives while a cat is giving birth in the snow. A bit too much internal monologuing for me, especially because not much else actually happens. #Romantsy #BlackBooks
so-soAlyssa Cole is hit or miss for me, and sadly her first full length sapphic romance was more of a miss. The characters were great, but the middle chunk really dragged; not enough character growth or romantic/royal plot. Then the end felt rushed. I listened to the audiobook and while Karen Chilton is great for an African American woman's voice like Makeda, it's disappointing they couldn't get an actor who could also do the book's other fun accents.
Thanks to Amistad Books I received both the advance readers copy, and also the finished copy of Love Me As I Am by Garcelle Beauvais. This one will be in stores tomorrow 4/12/22. It‘s a great read! #newbookalert #blackbooks #memoir #autobiography #justasiam #blackbooks
pickWhat a journey. This is Emezi's debut romance, so I went in with plenty of genre-related expectations. The book immediately thwarted them. Feyi begins the story coming back to life after the death of her husband. Not even 30 and already a widow. What follows is a gorgeous, sensual (the food!), and very queer (bi for bi!) romance. If you find the beginning chapters flat, persevere! I read them as intentionally mirroring Feyi's interior state.
This book is FINALLY picking up at page 72. Tbh, I think it's a lot ask a reader to go this far with such lifeless plot, pacing, and writing, even if it's deliberate to mirror the protagonist's inner state. The first 6 chapters felt off, like the story and characters were at arm's length. It felt especially off for romance genre conventions. It would be different if I was a diehard Emezi fan, but I've only read Pet, which I liked but didn't love.
