Stamped From the Beginning

This book is intimidating – it is heavy and thick – but I knew as soon as I saw the IG-hosted readalong from @melanatedreader, @_pagesgaloree, and @booksteanhenny that that was the community to read with and the time to pick it up. (As an exciting addition, my college roommate messaged and wanted to join as…

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.

Irby’s collections have been on my radar since I started getting more into short story/essay collections. Everything I’d read about them was unanimous in commentary on how funny she was and honestly, if there was ever a year/time that needed more comedic relief, it’s this one. So, as you all know by now is normal…

All Boys Aren’t Blue

This recently released YA memoir jumped onto my TBR because everyone seemed to be reading it! It was the Libro.fm audiobook club choice for June (hosted by @absorbedinpages) and really the hype for it was real! Also, that cover is just stunning. Luckily, I was a very early request on it at the library and…

Brown Girl Dreaming

I know I don’t usually read children’s/middle grade books, and Woodson has written “adult” books, so I’m not really sure what made me feel like this needed to be the first one by her that I read. But there was definitely a reason, because I bought this a year or so ago and have had…

Wild Swans

I was recommended this book by a coworker many years ago and a combination of events this year, including AAPI Heritage Month, a book choice recommendation for a book club topically related to Mother’s Day, and prompt #15 for The Reading Women Challenge 2020 (a biography) finally had me picking this one up. Wild Swans…

How We Get Free

This book was chosen by a friend as the first book of an Anti-Racist Book Club that she started. I know that the reactions to white people, white women, starting book clubs like this to address racism is very understandably skeptical as an empty gesture that will soon be moved on from… All I can…

Intentionally Decolonizing My Reading

I've written and re-written this post in my head. There are so many words, but in the end, this is what it comes down to: Black Lives Matter. Read Black authors. Non-fiction AND fiction. There is much to learn, yes, but also much Black joy and Black art to support and love. There are so…

How We Fight For Lives

I’d seen a couple reviews for this memoir that said it was very powerful, and I was interested in reading it, but I can’t necessarily say it was super high on my TBR, objectively. However, it was one of the books I managed to grab in my last library haul before the closures for COVID-19.…

Know My Name

This has been on my TBR since the moment I heard about it. And that was only reinforced by all the reviews I saw of it. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy though, for so many reasons, personal and otherwise. But important and necessary. Originally, I was nervous when my hold came up…

Bad Blood

Even though this scandal happened very recently, and on a very large scale, I have to say that I ready had no awareness of it in real time. To be fair, I was in grad school on the other side of the country, so it does make sense that my general knowledge of Silicon Valley…