Category: Book Talk

• 2024 Reading List

  I’ve said it before, and I’ll lie to myself again: I will finish the books on my shelf before buying new books this year! I wasn’t going to make a TBR list for the year, but the book club subgroup in my small group group chat (so many “groups”!) asked us to post our reading…

  Christine

  January 2, 2024

  Book Talk

  Alan Paton, books, Creep, Cry the Beloved Country, Drawing Near, fiction, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, John Bevere, Julia Alvarez, literature, Maria Romasco Moore, Myriam Gurba, reading, reading list, Some Kind of Animal, The Source of Self Regard, toni morrison

• I Bought a Dollar Tree Book! Louise Jensen: The Date

  Before last month, I’d never bought a book from Dollar Tree. I’d looked at them in passing, maybe read the blurb on one or two of them, but never took one home. I will admit, I was being very judgey. How good could a book from Dollar Tree actually be? Don’t worry, I’ve shamed myself…

  Christine

  November 7, 2023

  Book Talk, Review

  book review, books, fiction, literature, reading, The Date

• Book 2 is Drafted, and I Missed a Deadline (kind of)

  I finished working with my Beta Reader a couple of months ago, and it was such a great experience to have someone who didn’t know me personally or as a writer read my second book and totally get what I was going for. Actually, she found themes I hadn’t noticed or intentionally set. Maybe I…

  Christine

  August 15, 2023

  Book Talk, Update

  Black authors, book 2, books, fiction, literature, short story, short story collection, writing

• Safiya Sinclair: How to Say Babylon

  Can I tell you a secret? I scrolled through all 2,189 posts on Safiya Sinclair’s IG page, seeking a glimpse of the people whose trauma I’d just peered into. Sinclair’s memoir was fantastic. Other adjectives include… Magnificent. Heartbreaking. Terrifying. Pitiful. Enraging. Hopeful. Loving. Honest. Critical. Poetic. The imagery is vivid and the language is musical…

  Christine

  July 18, 2023

  Book Talk

  Black authors, book review, books, How to Say Babylon, literature, reading, Safiya Sinclair

• New Books!

  I went on a “moms walk” the Friday before Mother’s Day with my mom and two of her friends. Basically, a selection of the historic downtown shops were participating in a Mother’s Day giveaway. We, as the participants, had to go to each store on the paper map we were given and get a stamp…

  Christine

  June 27, 2023

  Book Talk

  Black authors, books, Creep, How to Say Babylon, literature, Myriam Gurba, reading, Safiya Sinclair, summer reading

• Crying in a Country… or Something Like That

  Y’all! So, I’m reading this book, right? And, while I am interested to find out how the story plays out, I can’t help but think I totally understand why this was only $4 at Books-A-Million. Actually, it was $3.97. Cheapest book I’ve ever purchased from a big book store. First of all, it can be…

  Christine

  May 2, 2023

  Book Talk, Review

  book review, books, literature, reading

• Creating Space for Writing

  I was exhausted after I self-published my first book last year. At the time, I didn’t think it was taking a lot out of me, but there was a lot of other intense things happening in my personal life and all of it just kind of wore me out. I thought I would spend a…

  Christine

  November 30, 2022

  Book Talk, Personal, Writing Journal

  Black authors, Black writers, books, fiction, literature, Personal, reading, selfpublishing, short story, writing, writing break

• Some Books Need to Be Read in Print and Are We Over Newsletters Yet?

  If you look at my reading list, you’ll notice I’ve been “reading” Pleasure Activism for months. I put “reading” in quotes because I stopped actively reading the book months ago (clearly, because it’s the end of October and I haven’t finished it yet). Unlike some other books I have struggled to get through, Pleasure Activism…

  Christine

  October 27, 2022

  Book Talk, Projects/Work

  books, literature, newsletters, Personal, Pleasure Activism, reading, VA, virtual assistant, writing

• Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray: The Personal Librarian

  First, have you seen a picture of Belle da Costa Greene (Belle Marion Greener)? If not, take a look. Now, I don’t know about you, but I can immediately tell she is a Black woman. When I see pictures of Black people who passed as white in the early 1900s, I am amazed by the…

  Christine

  June 28, 2022

  Book Talk, Review

  book review, books, historical fiction, literature, reading, The Personal Librarian

• Constantly Changing Book 2 | Writing Journal

  So, you know how I was working on a novel as my second book? Well, that is no longer the case [shrugs shoulders]. I decided that I don’t care about Kanoa’s story anymore (harsh, I know). Quite honestly, his story is the one that was tripping me up the most. I was working with two…

  Christine

  May 31, 2022

  Book Talk, Personal, Update, Writing Journal

  Black author, Black books, book two, books, fiction, literature, Personal, reading, selfpublishing, short story, writing