War and Me (+ Giveaway)

Until about two months ago, neither Faleeha Hassan nor this book were anywhere on my radar. But a representative of the publisher (Amazon Crossing) reached out and asked if I was interested in receiving a copy in exchange for participating in a Blog Tour. I've gotten pretty picky about which of these requests I say yes…

What My Bones Know

First off, this cover is damn gorgeous. Stunning. Second, though this hasn't *yet* taken the world by storm, it should...because it has gotten such comprehensively stellar reviews and after reading it myself, I find I can only add to that praise. Whether it actually is groundbreaking (which it does seem to be, based on the dearth of…

The Spy and the Traitor

Friends, you may notice that this book is incredibly unlike anything I've read before. I mean I did read that spy novel that was one of Obama's fav's one year, American Spy, but mostly because Obama recommended it. (And really I don't see that many spy novels by Black women from major imprints..so I was all about supporting that).…

Hidden Figures

I've been meaning to pick this book up for awhile. And my recent read of The Tenth Muse got me all inspired to read more about female mathematicians, so it seemed like the time to finally read this piece of nonfiction on that exact topic. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly “That even Katherine Johnson’s remarkable achievements can’t quite…

The Kissing Bug

I would never have picked this one up without seeing a review from @irisbooklist - and even then it was a chance library shelf encounter and spur of the moment "grab it" decision that put it in my hands this soon.  The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's…

Greedy

There is something about the title of this book that felt aggressive in a way that made me not want to read it, despite the fact that it was compared to Samantha Irby (whose essay collections we are never meeting in real life and wow, no thank you I love) and seemed topically to be spot on…

Men We Reaped

I read my first book by Ward, her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing, a few years ago. It was an affecting reading experience, emotional and expressive, lyrical and illuminative. But the story style, the slow-moving family saga and ghost story mix, is one that I have to be in the right mind-space for, because it can easily cause me…

Beautiful Country

I'd seen a few reviews and/or TBR stacks featuring this memoir, but it shot to the top of my personal TBR when I read a twitter thread about a horrible interaction the author had with an attendee at an event at which she was on a speaker panel. It was infuriating to read about, so…

When Stars Are Scattered

I saw this one reviewed by @andreabeatrizarango on bookstagram a few months ago (maybe a year ago? - my conceptual handle on time passing right now is questionable at best). She spoke so highly of it, so I added it to my TBR for the next time I was in the mood for a quick read…

Empire of Pain

Alright. I did it. In one of the most overwhelming #bookstagrammademedoit reading choices I've ever made, with particular shout outs to @thestackspod and @irisbooklist, I decided to give this one a go. I've never really seen a nonfiction book talked about like this one was, with so much hype. I hesitated to read it though, because I worked in youth…