Saturday, February 6, 2021

My #ReadSoulLit Start-Ups

 

So I would start a James Baldwin book the weekend before taking my Grandmother to two specialists the following week. Then the week after is my birthday week, as well as my return to the classroom. Busy little beaver, I suppose. Not the best time to find myself waist deep in Baldwin’s level of immersion and gripping engagement. Yet, I chose to pick up his book, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone. But who am I kidding? It is always the perfect timing for a Baldwin book. As I write this, I am fifty pages in and on my second cup of coffee for the evening. His work is that absorbing; I always want to be alert to his offerings. And here it is about to start raining! The right vibe. The right move. The right night. As I have stated, perfect timing.

I’m halfway through Tammye Huf’s A More Perfect Union. It is the book chosen for the #ReadSoulLit read-along of 2021. So far, I am liking the book. It is a fictionalized retelling of the author’s ancestors' love story, seeded in a Virginia plantation around 1849. You take a slave named, Sarah, and her Irish immigrant beau named Henry; imagine the peril involved. One thing I enjoy is Henry's narrative insight into the Irish immigrate experience. I also enjoy the parallel of family pain and trauma both Sarah and Henry share, though the overall illustrations of those shared traumas are fairly "light" (if you will). Nevertheless, their pain is something that draws them to one another. To keep a balance, Sarah and Henry do alternate shifting his or her narrative throughout the book. Yet, there is a third character named Maple that is as desperate to share her painful narrative as well. And an interesting one it is, considering she is the half-sister of the plantation’s mistress.

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Do I Feel Like Reading More of Mercedes Lackey's Work?

So here it is. The truth. I closed out reading Mercedes Lackey’s By the Sword feeling unfulfilled and unmoved by the book. So I'm wary of trying more of Lackey’s work. Don’t get me wrong, though. I enjoyed Lackey's Diana Tregarde series, as well as the first book in her Elementals series. As for the two dips I’ve taken into her Valedmar series, I've yet to come away with a hunger for more. And after finishing By the Sword, I am stuck wondering whether Lackey’s work is worth it to me. You see, By the Sword started off great. I was into Lackey’s fantasy character, Kerowyn, catapulting in her own direction in life. She wasn’t interested in becoming anyone’s wife or housekeeper. Nah. She desired the mercenaries way of life, or a means to be a hero to people.


Cool fantasy stuff, indeed.

Unfortunately, by the end of the book things changed for me.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Valerie Wilson Wesley's "A Glimmer of Death" is Out! Happy Release Day!


Listen. I stood at the stove about to reheat some lasagna (with cheap off-brand breadsticks from Wal-Mart and a "girl-bye" to them) when the UPS man delivered this baby to me. The book came on time. Delivered on its release date. I didn’t get played like I anticipated. So I was good to go! Y’all know the mailing services are off the chain these days. And my messy tail is contributing to it via Amazon purchases. But we’ll talk about that some other day.

THE FACTTTTT ISSSSSSS…

Valerie Wilson Wesley is one of my favorite black mystery writers, and she's back with a new series. Also, she's back with a fresh shift in gears toward undertaking the cozy mystery sub-genre. Wesley is best known for the famous Tamara Hayle lady private-eye detective series. She also has a catalog of black contemporary works out there (Playing my Mother's Blues being one). And Wesley is also known for two gothic romance novels (check the labels for “Savanna Welles”). My point is that Wesley has done about everything except cozy mysteries. Until today where we have A Glimmer of Death, book one in Wesley’s Odessa Jones series.

Get into Wesley's Tamara Hayle private-eye series, please

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