Review - Stranger in the Shogun's City by Amy Stanley

Disclaimer: I am not the creator of this video. Barter Hordes has a great YouTuber and is creator of the annual BookTube Prize. I have elected to use the share option and post this video to my blog. 

Review - We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper

Disclaimer: I am not the creator of this video. I subscribe to Rincey Reads and have elected
to utilize the share option and post this video to my blog.

Review - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

Disclaimer: I am not the creator of this video. Brown Girl Reading is a fantastic YouTuber and creator of #ReadSoulLit. I have elected to use the share option and post this video to my blog. 

Book Review - Luster

Review of the debut novel by Raven Leilani courtesy of  Booktuber Brown Girl Reading. 

"Luster is exciting, surprising, sometimes sad, at times awkward, even shocking. And it’s also funny. The book will make you uncomfortable, but that mirrors the discomfort that the characters, especially Edie, feel—about age, status, race, sex, salaries, you name it. Luster has an energy and an honesty that makes the words practically shimmer on the page. I am so glad I read this. --Chris Schluep" Courtesy of Amazon.com



Disclaimer: I am not the creator of this video. I subscribe to  Brown Girl Reading on YouTube and have elected to use the share option and post this video to my blog. 

Book Review - The Vanishing Half

Review of Brit Bennett's second novel The Vanishing Half.




Disclaimer: I am not the creator of this video. I subscribe to Rincey Reads and have elected to utilize the share option and post this video to my blog.

The 2020 Black Lit Challenge - Black History Month

I am very excites for Black History Month 2020. There are so many amazing reading challenges on Instagram it was hard to decide which do join. I decided to join in on The Black Lit Challenge. 

This is a new challenge for 2020 created by Seji of @theartisangeek for Black History month (BHM). It is a great challenge to encourage readers of black lit or people just interested to participate. I think this is a great way to get more people of color (primarily of African descent) to read books by black authors world wide. 

Image courtesy of @theartisangeek

She also created a very extensive Black Literature Compendium (a database) to make finding books and authors very easy. She also suggested on her YouTube channel that 1 book could satisfy the first 4 prompts. The bonus prompt will be announced closer to BHM.

Just a heads up that before the 21st century means and book before or between January 1, 1901 - December 31, 2000.

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson; covers all 4 prompts.

Ina's suggestion is Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron.

Disclaimer: Images courtesy of amazon.com 

2020 Reading Women Challenge

The 2020 Reading Women Challenge starts today.

This challenge was created and is hosted by the Reading Women. I found out about it from their podcast of the same name. A great entertaining podcast by the way.  The goal of this challenge is to read books written by or about women, i.e. books not written by men.

I think is a great challenge that will allow me to get through the books I have wanted to read, as well as discover new ones. I am excited about new genres and women authors that I may not have wanted to read before.  Check out the books that I have lined up for the challenge here. 

Image courtesy of readingwomenpodcast.com

I am starting January off with the two longest (I have a whole year) and shortest books.

Longest at 1462 pages is The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. This will satisfy prompts #7 & #17.

The second-longest at 1094 is Daughters of Africa, an anthology edited by Margaret Busby. Note this is the original anthology. I will move on to the new anthology next year. This will satisfy prompt #8.

The shortest book on my list is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists at 52 pages.