‘People who know loss know this : there‘s nothing harder to let go of than an already-gone thing‘

I call Makumbi a griot because of her dexterity with history and tradition in her novels. She tells heavy truth with the care and cunning that characterizes a generation‘s way of pushing back and centering what truly should be centered. This novel is beautiful with its depiction of sisterhood & solidarity in a time where all we are officially taught to respect are ‘modern‘ waves. It teaches of a history and people with such effortless grace

There is a such a clarity in the worlds Butler builds. Her work with these books is so sharp and precise. The kind of deconstruction and reconstruction of God and religion in ways that make so much sense to me in this time. Like 1984 these books scare me in how prophetic they are, but then they draw us a beautiful blueprint of revolution entrenched in community…teach us what leadership in service truly looks like in a way only a Black woman can.

My favourite thing about reading Evaristo is the certainty that all the characters‘ vulnerabilities and multitudes will be done a thorough and beautiful justice. Barry is conflicted, shady, petty, stubborn, entrenched in his time, queer and ultimately human. Grateful always for the nuance that is definitely one of Evaristo‘s superpowers ( that + some of the best sex scenes I‘ve ever had the pleasure to read)

A tumblr quote led me to this book and Lord what a beautiful pool this book is to drown in...to catch your breath to...to linger in...to put down in frustration...to absentmindedly rub your chest in response to the heartstrings it tugs...to be grateful for the truth it can hold….Azumah‘s poetry in prose is absolutely sublime and maybe the only book I‘ve known to accurately describe aches I know more intimately than I‘ll ever care to admit.

Trees are hands down some of my favourite things in the world. Learning so much more about them makes me feel even more strongly about how much they should be revered and protected.

If anyone knows any books about trees on the continent, hook me up!🤎

Where do I begin with this book? The effortlessness with which Evaristo weaves narratives and generations together is nothing short of spectacular. These tales are glorious and rich and honest and human oh so delightfully queer.
The full-bodiness of this book is everything and so much more.

when your country has the misfortune of being part of the ‘commonwealth‘ and Diana was one of the first larger than life icons of your childhood i was naturally very curious about this memoir for a number of reasons.

Spare is so deeply and hauntingly sad. I hope Harry and his family find healing.

I could say so much more about the evils of imperialism and dysfunctional families but maybe I too am too sad and tired.

i hadn‘t enjoyed reading anything for the longest time until i fell into this comic last year. the characters, the artwork, the wit, the fun, the profound declarations about life and relationships and people that just take your breath away. Lavender Jack is just that girl and Dan Schdake is a beast at this😍

At first I sat with how the world is frightfully efficient in trying to suffocate us out of our queerness & beating us into submission. But then it was the tone of the writing that finally got me at the end, that quiet tired monotone you tell your stories in because life has really made wisdom & exhaustion out of you.Life often takes us the long way round. Perhaps it doesn‘t matter, long or short, we eventually find our way to where we need to be.

This one startled me. I wasn‘t ready at how honestly it would turn its eyes to these well known aches in marriages and everything it sits in counsel with. I wasn‘t ready for how much of the dialogue was familiar esp in the justification of harm as norms. I wasn‘t ready for just how much it was honest about just how hard life can get, over and over and over again…

More than anything I love how this book reminded me of the parts of me I had hidden away. Of feelings I realized I hadn‘t allowed myself to feel in a long long time.

Babalolas retellings breathes an energy I‘m grateful to be reminded of and to lean back into.🧡

I‘m always humbled when books remind me of all the stories from places I wouldn‘t know to reach for. Humbled even more that as much as queerness is declared unAfrican, here we are, all over the literature & histories across the continent.

This book was a mirror of so much & a reminder of so much more. The quick sarcasm & then the painful earnestness the lead navigates the world with(same Okomo) are things I loved and will remember to hold dear🧡

‘Understanding all the ways fear stands in the way of our knowing love challenges us.Fearful that believing in love‘s truths and letting them guide our lives will lead to further betrayal,we hold back from love when our hearts are full of longing.Being loving does not mean we will not be betrayed.Love helps us face betrayal without losing heart.And it renews our spirit so we can love again‘

A big 2021 life lesson.
Thank you for being our Angel🕊

I don‘t yet have the words to honour this book. I doubt I will for a long time.

All my words are caught in my chest and throat and only Akwaeke could write us into existence this way....

I am a crying open wound after this book. My God what beauty....what light...what gut wrenching truth my God....my God...

“You are not your mistakes.” Mama Agba holds both of her shoulders, making Amari cry harder. “Do not let one moment define or destroy you. The gods work in mysterious ways. Have faith in their greater plan.”

Grateful for how this book was just the balm I needed during this difficult time🧡🥺

This is the fastest I‘ve torn through a novel in a very long time.Even with life happening & my short attention span distracting me at every turn.Adeyemi writes the African YA epic that I wish 9 year old me had but realising today the 9 year old inside me has been delighted beyond measure drinking in this world of love & injustice over the last few days.Grateful always for books that conjure worlds that hold us & the children we still are inside🧡

I‘ve spent a lot of my life trying to break free from dysfunctional family dynamics and this book has been a gentle affirmation to all the growth I‘ve been working on in navigating family and healing myself. It was so easy to get through and on being done, I‘m full with gratitude for all the reclaiming of self I‘ve done so far and continue to do🧡✨

Ever since I was little, the idea of being able to go back in time and experience history has always fascinated me. Narratives and stories set in the past have always called to me. But a narrative that is built on time travel and handles masterfully the heavy history and present legacy of slavery with the depth and skill only Octavia Butler could? Erm, yes?

Revisiting this was so refreshing. Aidoo writes the absolute funnest sentences. I loved to see the old Accra rise up from the pages like a pop-up book.
The old Accra which is still very much like the new Accra. Esi‘s old problems that are still very much new problems.
Changes is a timeless piece of art. Timeless.

“You died.
I cried.
And kept on getting up.
A little slower.
And a lot more deadly.”

I learned so much I didn‘t expect to meet in this book. I‘ll never get over what I‘ve learnt about America in this book.

Reading has always been a place of solace for me ever since I was a child. To not be able to find safety in the words on a page, especially during these trying times, has left me a lot more broken-hearted than I‘ve been able to admit.
Here‘s to hoping I find my way back home soon. I miss it terribly.

It 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.

‘“Two hungry people should never make friends. If they do, they eat each other up. It is the same with one person who is hungry and another who is full: they cannot be real, real friends because the hungry one will eat the full one. You understand?”‘

‘...she couldn‘t find the words to tell TillyTilly that sisters was something about being held without hands,and the skin-flinch of seeing and simultaneously being seen.‘

Grandpa&Jess never lied.

The ways this work handles complexity in identity, purpose and loyalty. The skillful & purposeful world building. A tech driven world that literally breathes & centres the different possibilities and definitions of life, contrasted in ways that sci-fi can be cold & metallic & sterile. The efficiency in storytelling.The commentaries on us that expand delightfully. The joy of a black female lead, and officially my favorite spaceships ever imagined.

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a master storyteller and the ultimate griot.

Aaron Bady (though not in this particular published version) writes one of the best introductions to a book that I‘ve ever read.

That‘s it. That‘s all.

My favourite thing about this book- aside it‘s singular embodiment of bravery and freedom- is just how thorough it is. The way it reads like an easy conversation over drinks about navigating queerness as an African man, but with the full dignity of all its nuances and complexities.
It is honest and real in both its social & personal commentary and it is hard not to feel like Edozien ultimately honours us by giving us this work. This truth.

'Sometimes when he had her
nipple in his mouth she'd whisper
Allah-
this too is a form of worship'

-Grief Has Its Blue Hands in Her Hair
Warsan Shire

I've never been more in love with poetry from the hands of women.

I've been learning lately the importance of leaning into the things that bring my inner child joy. Books were always my safest places growing up and the Harry Potter novels were a huge part of that safety. It's been a joy reliving my childhood excitement rereading this.

I had forgotten just how light, funny and earnest (like Harry) this read is...and in hindsight? Dumbledore nudging these kids in the direction of such danger? Nope nope.

I listened to Braithwaithe speak about her book at the just ended 2019 edition of the Ake Books & Arts Festival in Lagos,Nigeria and one thing that struck me is how she said she wrote this book for her, her way, not necessarily expecting it to be work people would appreciate the way they eventually have.

Isn't that honestly the coolest thing? And every author's dream maybe?

I loved every page of this creative,funny,suspenseful honest telling.

'then surely,
as she grows
from child into woman,

a girl's voice doesn't break:
it gets firmer.'

I'm holding on to this quote for all of my dear life.

Homegoing does two things I absolutely love in storytelling: tackle history and drip with characterization.
I reveled in and felt every single character's uniqueness, the weight of their hopes, pains, conflicts with the worlds around them and in them...driven in a vehicle of uncomplicated language: a foil to all their very complicated lives.
A drive through the historical landscape that we on the continent could use less of an allergy towards.

I am a woman trying to find my place in this world. I am a woman who is, more than ever, aware of what it means to be an African woman navigating this world.

Books like this make me exceedingly grateful for the gifts of the voices of women before me. For the truths told and the representation of African feminism. Of words that reach across decades with so much ease and could easily be the words of my mother, and hers before her...Deeply grateful.

'Understand this if you understand nothing: it is a powerful thing to be seen.'

Nothing I've read this year has made me feel as seen as this book. Nothing has broken me open like this, reminding me so much that I am a living breathing thing and that I am not alone in this world. Thank you Akwaeke Emezi. Thank you.

I remember pausing halfway through this book and feeling a sense of shame about how little I had known and understood of the workings of apartheid in South Africa till then.

Noah carries us on a journey of heavy truths with a graceful ease the way only him and his humour can.

Utterly gut-wrenching. Had me in total shambles. Had my hand over my chest almost the whole way through.
These stories dart deftly across continents and genres making this book a potent capsule of gripping speculative prose and cruel reality.

Totally loved it. Can you tell? Lol!

The review I truly wanted to put up was 200 words over what the limit would allow. Mostly because I wanted to show which quotes from this timeless narration spoke to my own struggles with myself, struggles with the men in my life and their struggles with the worlds they have been told to conquer.

But I will say this: TNC wields his pen beautifully, like a wand and microphone all at once.

I tend to get overwhelmed sometimes and then have no words to describe just how moved I am by something. There will be a still engulfing silence while thoughts and emotions swell in gratitude.
The way Dangarembga tackles mental health, African female adolescence and stradling worlds in this book is nothing short of a gift.