pickGray explores the unraveling of a family after a criminal conviction that demands them to change roles. Focusing on three sisters, the story switches between their perspectives as they navigate these familial shifts and realize how they reshape their perception of themselves and each other. Above all, this is a story that tests the limits of familial love; how we survive together and/or threaten to break apart.
pickBeautiful dark. A sharp critique on consumerism and the way it eats at our humanity.
pickReading/ Finishing this for #LovingDay& celebrating the stories of mixed families while acknowledging the history of passing.
pickIncredible, deep poems that get to the heart of relationships, emotional complexity and shame. Lambda award finalist. #poetry #lgbt #lambdawards
Working on undoing the damage and letting go.
pickGuttural and beautiful and striking. I couldn‘t stop reading once I‘d begun. It‘s heavy, but also transcendent.
This book is messing me up in the best way possible. #diverselit #memoir #amreading
I‘m middle aged now.
bailedI wanted to love this. And I think I will eventually come back to it. But it‘s not happening for me right now. The collective voice is hard.
The brief insanities in you
Read on vacation
This is different than I expected, and it‘s hard to explain how. I love the collective voice and navigation of identity.
pickAn important memoir that sheds light and the personal and communal circumstances that compelled Patrisse Cullors to start Black Lives Matter.
I‘m just going to keep posting this book because it makes me feel seen. #stillreading #amreading #diverselit #sundaynight
Excellent Sunday start.
pickEduardo Galeano is a master of prose. He uses a series of vignettes to tell the history of his country, along with parable and mythology.
#diverselit#weekendreading#galeano#latino#history
pickPenelope reluctantly moves from Philadelphia back to Brooklyn to help her aging father. Through her eyes, we see the gentrification of the neighborhoods she knows and while others are flocking to the area, she has to confront the reasons she left. Coster expertly navigates painful family relationships without letting the reader forget the love that lies beneath it all. Love & family are forever complicated and this book illustrates that so well.
This essay title though!. Struggling through this collection, but there are interesting moments. #nonfiction #essays #diverselit #mixedreader
pickCounting Descent is a collection of cautious optimism. There was a directness and finesse that captured my attention. Smith shines a light on the simple, pure, and soulful; reminders that all the threats of the world can not take away what is holy. Family, love, joy. #poetry #diverseliterature #weneeddiverselit #poems #januaryreads #winterreads
Sometimes I forget...: #poetry #amreading #saturdayreads
pickGrateful to read a #galley of this one. Excellent book of short stories that finds its characters in processes of self discovery and confronting truth. Sharply written and so readable.
pickOverall I enjoyed this! There were a few stories that completely hooked me and a few a skimmed. But Machado has a unique writing voice and awesome perspective. #shortstories #diverselit #queerlit
pickI‘ve never read a book like this before. It fascinated and humbled me as the stars do. This book posits a world that is future, but is so telling of our own. It critiques power structures and racism and mental illness. It is humane, but real. It is queer and androgynous. It is difficult, but worth it.
Holy bananas. I wasn't prepared and it's got its claws in me.
pickEven though I‘m DNF-ing this book, I still want to give it its kudos. The narrator was a bit much for me at the moment, but I absolutely see the importance and resonance of a book like this one. I would love to put this in the hands of my students.
pickI took my time with the first reading of this book, savoring the gorgeous prose of poems like “apple tree” & “ode to luster‘s pink oil” & “why you can not touch my hair” & “what it means when I say I‘m sharpening my oyster knife. There were moments I recalled like my own girlhood, and moments the narrator dropped me into her world. So grateful for this collection: it‘s truths + questions + hope
#poetry #diverselit
pickThis book slowed me down & softened my heart today. Strong back, soft front, & wild heart is what I‘ll take from this book: belonging/courage/vulnerability/empathy all live in the same plane. We must find ways to live with openness while also believing in ourselves enough to be as authentic as possible. #brenebrown #vulnerability
pickI devoured this YA novel in one sitting. The prose shifts between 3rd person narrative and letters from the main character to MLK. Sometimes that style worked for me, at other times it didn‘t. However part two of this book is especially striking and necessary and relevant. Definitely worth the read.
pickThe last two words of this novel-in-verse have me still catching my breath. This is amplified by the fact that I did not notice the face on this book cover until I took this picture and now I‘m wondering how I missed it. Read it. I‘m shook. #jasonreynolds #longwaydown #ghosts #poetry #diverselit #bookstagram
