Me with Colin on our bar trip in Thailand, 2015 I haven’t written here in a long time, because being Black in America has been kicking my ass. But I’m writing this out of pure anger, because sometimes, that’s all you’ve got. On May 30, my friend Colinford Mattis was arrested. This was following Black…
Author: cheerstothebookends
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Everyone who knows me knows that I love Harry Potter. In fact, I routinely include J.K. Rowling’s seven books in the Harry Potter series as one of my three great loves in life, accompanied by Popeye’s and Gucci Mane. The world that Rowling created in the Harry Potter series is nearly unparalleled in fiction, and…
The Female Persuasion
I recently read this weighty tribute to white feminism and it was everything that I thought it would be. That is not a good thing in this case. Let me think of some good things to say first. Well, the cover is truly visually engaging. Which is to essentially say, I also did appreciate the…
American Spy
Lauren Wilkinson has given me something I’ve truly never EVER read before: a Black girl spy novel. I can’t even attempt to name a comparable story. I mean, when do Black girls ever get to dream of being spies, work for the FBI, and embroil themselves in an extra-legal plot to topple a government? The…
This Mournable Body is Mournable Indeed
There are some books that you hear about or see on the shelves at the bookstore and you just immediately *want* to love them. This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga was one of those books for me. I saw the cover and read the description and immediately wanted to read the book. It has even…
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
Sometimes, I get sucked in by a great cover. Like the title, the cover art of this book had me enraptured immediately. I didn’t know anything about the story or about the critical praise that this novel has received — I just knew that it had a beautiful cover, a seemingly engaging storyline (based on…
With the Fire on High
Elizabeth Acevedo wrote her first book, The Poet X, without any clue that it would become the phenomenon that it did. Well, phenomenon it became. I have yet to read it, but her sophomore novel, With the Fire on High, has only made me more likely to pick it up sooner rather than later. When…
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko spans several decades, members of a family, and even countries and continents. It begins with Hoonie, a physically handicapped fisherman living in a Korean village. It then follows Sunja, Hoonie’s beloved daughter who becomes pregnant after an affair with an older Korean businessman who visits from Osaka. After a visiting…
The World According to Fannie Davis
My non-fiction book of the month for February was The World According to Fannie Davis, written by Spelmanite and beautiful Black woman, Bridgett M. Davis. The author came to D.C. in January to discuss her book and do a signing, and I was lucky enough to attend. I didn’t grow up with “the numbers,” but…
Us is . . . fine.
Do not read the following post if you have not yet seen the film Us. This post contains major spoilers. I went to see Jordan Peele’s latest film, Us, again last night . . . even though I really didn’t want to. I had convinced myself (since I was being strongarmed into attending again anyway) that the…
