🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 Cheers!
My emotions are over the place after reading this novel! #JamesBaldwin leaves me heartbroken & in awe every time I finish one of his books. This story of young love in the face of injustice has left me speechless. How is it that I‘m reading a book from 1974 & it feels like 2018! 44 years later, #IfBealeStreetCouldTalk is relevant & timely. Baldwin truly had his pulse on what was wrong (and still is) with America. ⁣#spinesvines

“What no one tells you about grief is that you don‘t want to figure out a way to live with it—you want the part of you that hurts to die instead” 🥃🎀 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A police officer has been killed, his widow is pregnant & she falls in love with his brother. Whoa! A beautiful debut. I loved how stories from the past intersect with the present. The element of music guides you through family dynamics, love & grief. #spinesvines #diversespines

As I look back over the tragic events of last week, it saddens my soul. We need more inclusion, #love & #kindness. Let‘s spread some love & light with #beKINDspines stacks! Share an inspirational message via your stack⁣ 📚💖

freedom is a constant struggle⁣
and still I rise ⁣
god help the child⁣
speak no evil ⁣
behold the dreamers⁣
the sun does shine ⁣
⁣
Wishing you a great week ☀️

#spinesvines #diversespines #spinepoetry #mondaymotivation

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!⁣⁣
I went into this book completely blind. Once I discovered the subject matter, I went to google to educate myself on Trokosi. The setting is a fictional West African country & Abeo Kata is a 9 y.o. girl who is ripped from her privilege lifestyle when her father forces her to become a slave in a religious sect. ⁣⁣This was a haunting & heartbreaking read that stayed with me weeks after I finished. #spinesvines #diversespines

#TGIF, we made it! HOLY STACKS! #DiverseSpines highlights reading more women of color & this stack from @MsBsZenLife is amazing!⁣
⁣
I‘m reading PRIDE by #IbiZoboi & loving it. ⁣It‘s a retelling of Austen‘s classic. The story follows a family with Afro-Latino roots dealing with their gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood.
⁣
What are you reading this weekend?⁣

⁣📚🍷

#spinesvines #books #wine #readmorewomen #PRIDEremix #fridayreads #fridayfeeling

Words Have Power, Read A Banned Book!
It‘s #BannedBooksWeek 📖✊🏽 What banned book are you reading?

I read my first Toni Morrison book, #THEBLUESTEYE, in 2016. I‘m kind of ashamed to say that I‘ve never read #BELOVED. But no time like the present.
🍃🍁

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #bannedbooks #fridayreads #tgif #tonimorrison #wocwriters #fallreading

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ― Maya Angelou

Re-reading a #BannedBook!

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #bannedbooksweek #iknowwhythecagedbirdsings #mayaangelou #wocwriters #rereading #sundayfunday

What are the odds that on the very day of #ManBooker2018 shortlist announcement, one of the authors on the list is at my local #independentbookstore 👏🏽🙌🏽. What luck!! It was such a pleasure meeting Esi Edugyan and I‘m looking forward to reading WASHINGTON BLACK! Congrats Esi! 📚🥂

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #washingtonblack #esiedugyan #wocwriters #unionmarketdc #politicsandprose

OMG! This book is what storytelling is all about. I can't even describe how this book captivated me. The pace, writing style & characters were perfectly weaved into a beautiful story. Although quite heartbreaking there was an element of survival, love, resilience & redemption that was absolutely exquisite. I'm still thinking about this book days later. The audiobook was perfect!🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers #wherethecrawdadssing #mustread #spinesvines

#throwbackthursday to the wonderful #PoliticsandProse book event with R.O. Kwon & the amazing #LiteraryCocktails crafted by Chantal Tseng at #ReadingRoomDC! 📚🍷🔥 A grand night spent w/awesome people & my book boo @Lupita.Reads 💞

The Incendiaries was a mind blowing read (no pun intended)! My first thought was “what the hell am I reading?!” (In a good way) Profoundly powerful & the prose so unique! #spinesvines #diversespines #theincendiaries

#DiverseSpines | Day 10 My Kind of Books

#DiverseBooks are my kind of #books!! I believe that reading diverse books allows one to grow & expand. You open yourself up to experience cultures & human conditions that are unlike your own. However, I‘ve often discovered that there is always a situation or condition that the reader can relate to or empathize with. Diversity is vital in fostering empathy. ❤️ #spinesvines #diversity #photochallenge

#DiverseSpines | Day 9 Book and Drink

A lovely Spine & Vine on #winewednesday! La Spinetta Rosê & MONSOON MANSION by Cinelle Barnes ??

#spinesvines #books #wine #photochallenge #day9 #bookanddrink #roseallday #monsoonmansion

#DiverseSpines | Day 8 Cover Love

How are women, and artists, "seen" and judged by their age, race, and looks? And how does this seeing change, depending upon what is asked of the viewer? What does it mean when someone states (as one teacher does) that "you will never be an Artist"—who defines "an Artist," and all that goes with such an identity, & how are these ideas tied to our shared conceptions of beauty, value, and difference? #spinesvines

#DiverseSpines | Day 7 Spine Poetry

I‘m loving my spine poetry either way you read it!

Where The Line Bleeds
The Perfect Find
A Kind of Freedom
Feel Free ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✨✨✨✨ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Feel Free
A Kind of Freedom
The Perfect Find
Where The Line Bleeds

#spinesvines #books #wine #photochallenge #day7 #spinepoetry

#DiverseSpines | Day 6 Book Rec
I can‘t recommend this book enough. GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER is a timely and harrowing portrayal of human trafficking, cultural misogyny and the battles still fought every day by millions of women worldwide. This past weekend @Lupita.Reads & I were fortunate to have #ShobhaRao join our #LITonHSt bookclub meeting to discuss her stunning novel. 📚🔥

#spinesvines #photochallenge #girlsburnbrighter #bookclub

#DiverseSpines Day 5 Book in the Air
I adored this book. You are transported back in time & deposited into monumental eras of history. Her prose exquisitely glides the reader through the Great Migration of blacks from the south to the north, the Harlem Renaissance, WWII, the Holocaust, the turbulent Civil Rights Era, the assassinations of JFK and MLK, Jr., ending with the tumultuous 1970s, a continuation of the 1960s. #spinesvines #thebookofharlan

#DiverseSpines | Day 4 Weekend Vibes
“If you are disgusted by what you see, & if you feel the fire coursing through your veins, then it's up to you. You don't have to be the leader of a global movement or a household name... It can be passing on knowledge & skills to those who wouldn't access them otherwise. It can be creative. It can be informal. It can be your job. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you're doing something.” #spinesvines

#diversespines | Day 3 Summer Reads ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🎶...Summer, summer, summertime. Time to sit back and unwind. 🎶 - #WillSmith

It‘s the first day of summer & I love summertime reading! I‘m looking forward to my Diverse Spines lineup and also seeing what you all are reading! 🌞📚🍷 ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
June 2018 -WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST
July 2018 - FRESHWATER
August 2018 - WHISKEY & RIBBONS

#spinesvines #photochallenge #day3 #summerreads

#diversespines | Day 2 Book & Food
The one thing I love more than books & wine is FOOD!🍴🌮😋
“This book provokes us to look beyond the label of “victim” and recognize the power of the imagination to transcend even the most profound injuries and aftershocks. Devastating yet beautiful, & bracingly original, it is a powerful testament to her commitment to constructing a life on her own terms.”
#spinesvines #photochallenge ‘#thegirlwhosmiledbeads

🍷🍷🍷🍷 Cheers #diversespines | Day 1 Book Quotes
“Life, inexhaustible, goes on. And we do too. Carrying our wounds and our medicines as we go. Ours is an amazing, a spectacular, journey in the Americas. It is so remarkable one can only be thankful for it, bizarre as that may sound. Perhaps our planet is for learning to appreciate the extraordinary wonder of life that surrounds even our suffering, & to say Yes, if through the thickest of tears.”

Today is the day! The first day of the #DiverseSpines #photochallenge! 12 days of posting books written by women of color! 📚📸🖤👸🏽
#spinesvines #books #wine #poc #diversity #diversityinreading #womenauthorsofcolor #whorunstheworld #juneteenth

I‘m ready for summer reading, are you? The #diversespines reading challenge focuses on reading literature by women authors of color. We‘ve had some great selections so far. Here‘s the lineup! What‘s on your #summer #reading list?☀️📚🍷

June
📖 WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

July
📖 FRESHWATER by Akwaeke Emezi

August
📖 WHISKEY & RIBBONS by Leesa Cross-Smith

#spinesvines #WTCYAT #Freshwater #WhiskeyandRibbons

Opens book... raises eyebrows... gasps... sighs... WOW! And that‘s my reaction after only reading the prologue. Tommy Orange drops the mic early & I‘m officially hooked.

“Getting us to cities was supposed to be the final, necessary step in our assimilation, absorption, erasure, the completion of a five-hundred-year-old genocidal campaign. But the city made us new, and we made it ours.”

Thanks #aaknopf for the free copy!

#spinesvines

My bookish week continues! So thrilled to meet one of my favorite poets last night! I‘m obsessed with her words. She can write two sentences or only a few words and blow me away. I read a few pages of BONE every day. I‘m so excited about her new memoir ‘The Terrible‘. Do yourself a huge favor and get to know Yrsa Daley-Ward!! She‘s incredible!! #spinesvines #books #wine #bone #theterrible #yrsadaleyward #diversespines #bookworm

What a fun night with Lauren Groff at Politics and Prose Bookstore. Her infectious and witty personality was so refreshing. I can‘t wait to read Florida and I still need to read Fates and Furries!
📚🍷
#spinesvines #books #wine #dcevents #bookevent #laurengroff #florida #fatesandfurries #mondaymotivation #bookish

🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers
What an interesting cast of characters not to mention the suspense of a missing baby. Molloy delivers the right amount of thrills & plot twists to keep the reader engaged as she takes you into the lives of the May Mothers; a support group of new mothers. It took me a moment to get in the groove during the first half of the book but the second half picked up the pace & was quite entertaining. #spinesvines #theperfectmother

I‘m closing out the final week of short story month with these beauties! What short story collection have you read this month?

#spinesvines #books #wine #shortstorymonth #shortstories #diversespines #memorialday #blackswans #evebabitz #headsofthecoloredpeople #nafissathompsonspires #whatitmeanswhenamanfallsfromthesky #lesleynnekaarimah

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers
This book is everything, absolutely exhilarating! Cooper‘s passion for black women & girls radiates throughout this book. It‘s hard not to have your blood pressure go up a notch and your heart race a little faster while reading this book. I screamed out loud, laughed, said amen & preach Brittney! She spares the feelings of no one & I fully appreciate her take it or leave it unapologetic #blackfeminist truth telling #spinesvines

Save the date 📆 June 19-30! Summer is coming #Littens! Join me for a 12 day DIVERSE SPINES #photochallenge focusing on posting books written by women of color. Share with your #Litsy or #Instagram friends! Be sure to use the #diversespines hashtag. 📚📸 ☀️

For more info: https://instagram.com/p/Bi9kRzEFLQ1/

#spinesvines #books #wine #woc #readingwomen #readingchallenge #diversity #bookish #booklovers #summerreading

#Rose on #Humpday & a 🍷🍷🍷🍷Cheers read. A heartbreaking story of a young black male struggling w/his sexuality, friendships as well as existing in his community & a strict privileged Nigerian family. This was an intense read focusing on gender and racial politics. I was quite angry during the second half. However, I loved that the story was told from two perspectives Niru,a young black man and Meredith, a white female. #mustread #spinesvines

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers
The Gunners is a story about friendship, family, love, secrets & loss. Mikey, Jimmy, Sam, Alice, Sally, &Lynn are a group of childhood friends who reunite when they are in their 30s after a member of their group commits suicide. The story is set in present day with nuanced moments from the past weaved into the story. I was completely invested in all of the characters throughout their entire journey. #spinesvines

🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!

#AnAmericanMarriage had me on an emotional rollercoaster & I‘m still thinking about it 4 weeks later. Tayari delivered an authentic story with many themes & layers. Whether you are talking about the roles of fathers, class, education, marriage, black men in America, the American justice system, family or love this book will catapult you into a wide rage of conversations. A thought provoking #mustread for all! #spinesvines

I regret nothing, not even eating jellybeans with my tea 😂🐣🐰

🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!
An entertaining read filled with juicy family drama, secrets, lies & scandal. The book opens with Laila at her mother‘s funeral where she encounters three strangers. It is revealed that these guests are her wealthy first cousins Laila never knew existed. She desires to attain the elite social class that her last name demands among the upper echelon in NYC.

This is what it's really like to lose. It is complete and irreversible. How pernicious these little things called memories are. They barbed me once but now that I no longer have many of them I am devastated.

🍷🍷🍷/5 A debut novel explores 'what we lose' when we lose a parent. Good not great. I would have preferred to have more content surrounding her mother's illness, their relationship & the movement through grief. Although there are glimpses of these items, I wanted more. The second half of the book was more substantive. Towards the end of the book Clemmons begans to explain her movement through grief with beautiful prose & then the book ends.

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Through triumphs & tragedy Lewis keeps it real in this hilarious, laugh out loud, honest & down to earth memoir. She lays it all on the line sharing her life experiences & her battle with mental illness. I'm glad I chose to listen to the audiobook. The true essence of her spirit, joys & pains are revealed magically. Her voice & animation draws you in immediately. A wonderful & fulfilling listening experience!

🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!
This book was like sitting with a close friend and dissecting your daily walk in America. The topics & descriptions will be familiar for people of color but quite insightful and shocking for others. It can be viewed as a handbook or memoir but the message is clear, let‘s get uncomfortable and have a legitimate conversation about race! The delivery of this important topic is accessible & personable. A must read for EVERYONE!

Cheers to #winewednesday & #bookmail! Thank you @LittleBrownBooks for THE HOUSE OF BROKEN ANGELS! So excited to read this one 📚🍷

#spinesvines #books #wine #thehouseofbrokenangels #booklover

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!

#ReadSoulLit Day 3/28 - A Family Saga ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
A KIND OF FREEDOM is a superb debut novel illuminating a multigenerational exploration of an African American family shaped by the limits of freedom, race and class. ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #photochallenge #blackhistorymonth #akindoffreedom

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers

#ReadSoulLit Day 2/28 - Best Book of 2017 ⠀
A stunning & captivating book of poetry. Beautiful prose, range & depth.

“what is now will soon be past

Just because you do it
doesn't mean you always will.
Whether you are dancing dust
or breathing light
you're never exactly the same,⠀
twice.”
🖤

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #blackhistorymonth #photochallenge #poetry #bone #yrsadaleyward

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!

Pure beauty! I was completely invested in the characters and was anxiously waiting with each turn of the page to see how their stories unfolded. It was a heartbreaking journey to travel with Yejide through her life experiences as a mother and wife. I love the way this story was delivered with grace and authenticity.

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #spinetalk #bookreview #staywithme

Rating: ????/5 Cheers!
If you knew the date that you would die, how would that knowledge impact your movement through life and the decisions that you made? I can't stop thinking about this book. I don't know what I loved more- the characters, the execution, the pace, the simplicity or just the overall premise. Beautifully crafted words which allowed each sibling‘s voice to radiate from the pages. A very thought provoking read. #spinesvines

🔟 - #countdownto2018 ⏰⏳🎊⠀⠀⠀ ⠀

Favorite Non-Fiction of 2017
🍷🍷🍷🍷 Cheers!
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
#theseareafewofmyfavoritethings⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
#2017review #spinesvines #books #wine #killersoftheflowermoon #davidgrann #mustread

I love Saturday mornings...☕️📖
Currently listening to my first Ron Chernow book
🎧 GRANT!⠀⠀⠀ ⠀

#spinesvines #books #wine #audiobook #grant #ronchernow

Not only did I get to meet this living legend and national treasure, I was able to share this wonderful night with @Lupita.Reads 🤗 I️ am looking forward to reading Nikki Giovanni‘s latest book of poetry. She was phenomenal! #latepost #nikkigiovanni #agoodcry #politicsandprose #spinesvines #books #wine

This was SO special!! Tom Hanks in conversation with Ann Patchett. What a grand way to close out a very bookish week!
⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
#aboutlastnight #spinesvines #books #wine #tomhanks #uncommontype #hanx #annpatchett

I love Saturday mornings...☕️📖 🍁🍃⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
#reflections #refresh #replenish #release #spinesvines #bone #yrsadaleyward #milkandhoney #thesunandherflowers #rupikaur

Without a doubt my local independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, delivers the best events! What an amazing night with Amy Tan! I can't wait to read her latest memoir? Has anyone read this one yet??

#spinesvines #books #wine #toread #wherethepastbegins #amytan

🍷🍷🍷/ 5 Cheers! The cover alone will draw you to this book. The overwhelming accolades will intrigue you enough to read it. There wasn't much I'll remember about this novel except for the ending. The story started off intriguing, there wasn't much grandeur or character enhancement. This is the story of a Muslim family living in Britian whose lives are torn apart by the ideology of jihad, racism, terrorism, civil rights, torture & love.

this is the recipe of life⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
said my mother⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
as she held me in her arms as i wept⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
think of those flowers you plant⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
in the garden each year⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
they will teach you⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
that people too⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
must wilt⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
fall⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
root⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
rise⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
in order to bloom⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
- rupi kaur, the sun and her flowers 🌞🌻

#spinesvines #books #wine #currentlyreading #thesunandherflowers #rupikaur #poetry