one book leads to another
First, I love a novella. Not too big, not too small, sized just right. Who has time for 900-page tomes? Not me. Short stories are great, I enjoy them, but they’re stories, not (mini) novels. Novellas rule by allowing just enough space to set the stage, round out a character, and develop a plot. Tenacity … Continue reading Family Curse: Field Notebooks (1880-2020)
New! Listen to me read this review here - https://open.spotify.com/episode/21Ri7o9hKABqfP7ublI0Kr News flash - Colson Whitehead can write! I know we know this, he's won not one but two Pulitzer Prizes (for The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys). Harlem Shuffle is completely different from those books but just as extraordinary. Ray Carney is a good … Continue reading Harlem Shuffle
What can I say about Where the Crawdads Sing that hasn't been said before? For four years you've heard the hype; you've seen the movie (or at least the trailer); you may have even heard about the controversy surrounding the author. And you still haven't read it? Okay, let me convince you. First, I'm still … Continue reading Where the Crawdads Sing
I recently read - ok listened to - the 2019 Young Adult book On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. You may know of her 2017 YA bestseller The Hate U Give (or the movie version which hit screens in 2018). As outstanding as that book was, I think I liked this one better. Here's … Continue reading 3 books, 2 authors, 1 series, 0 complaints
Brit Bennett's book The Vanishing Half is an achievement. She created a story that draws you in and lingers long after you finish. To say it is multilayered and thought-provoking would be an understatement. If you were growing up Black in the American South in the '50s but could easily pass for White, would you … Continue reading The Vanishing Half
The Plot landed on all the 2021 best-of lists and now that I've read it I understand why. Jean Hanff Korelitz strikes again with her clever and devious novel. I read and raved over her 2014 book, You Should Have Known (made into the HBO show The Undoing and reviewed here). Korelitz is an excellent … Continue reading Well-plotted
I made myself a Black History Month reading list* but only read two books so far (and one was a children's book). Read on for my reviews of a 1974 James Baldwin classic and a new, award winning book on the Tulsa Race Massacre. If Beale Street Could Talk has a straight up '70s vibe … Continue reading From Beale Street to Tulsa
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