My social media engagement is minimal because at the end of my life I won't think, "I should have spent more time on social media." Earlier this week some comments from accounts that I don't follow and don't follow me commented on my "We Are a Book Sanctuary" photo showing books wrapped in solid-colored paper; no titles/authors/genres, no text at all beyond the letters spelling out the phrase from a display at a local library branch 5 months ago. Rather than responding to or blocking them, I'm sharing my thoughts here.    [screen shot from the Unite Against Book Bans website homepage with their open book logo in the upper left corner and "Unite in Your Community" links to resources to defend books from censorship]  Engaging with social media every day isn't my usual pattern so it took a day or two for me to see these. [a chain of comments from 3 different formerly-twitter accounts in response to an October 2024 post with a photo of a ...

Last week ended with a lively virtual book launch of a writing craft how-to delivered as a new memoir from the living literary icon and educator Marita Golden. Similar to the way in which August Wilson composed "The Pittsburgh Cycle" to examine the complexity of the African-American experience throughout the 20th century, each Marita Golden memoir offers insights into different aspects of her life as a Black person, a woman, a creative, an academic, a wife, a mother with compelling discourse that urges readers to excavate their own lives, motives, and lessons learned in easy and hard ways.     How to Become a Black Writer: Creating & Honoring Black Stories That Matter  by Marita Golden  non-fiction memoir  Mango, February 2025   "All writing is autobiographical."  Marita Golden   https://maritagolden.com/   This memoir offers an examination of self as a way into engaging public conversation with a variety of subjects: the e...

Only 4 months plus a few days until The Write Women Book Fest kicks off on Saturday, July 19th from 12 noon - 5 p.m. & Sunday, July 20th from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Bowie Comfort Inn & Conference Center in Bowie, Maryland!  Details here:  https://www.thewritewomenbookfest.org/#/   This is how our planning sessions usually start.  [a dining table covered in a white linen cloth; 2 linen napkins, 2 salad plates, 2 filled water glasses, 2 glass goblets half-full of red wine, charcuterie plates of fruit, meat, bread, crackers, brownies]   [6 trade paperback library books from left to right: 2 arranged spine up - Deep End, Better Than Friends; 4 arranged face up - A Lifetime in 30 Days, A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, Maybe in This Lifetime, Single Player]  A Lifetime in 30 Days by A.C. Arthur  contemporary suspense fiction with romance  Montlake, December 2024  key themes: a weekend getaway gone astray, intrigue, danger, regrets, hea...

An unconventional memoir, a study guide and two romances. Plus, more library books!   [3 books face-up: A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter, The Beginner's Guide to Karma, Only for the Week; books arranged atop fabric with a repeating pattern of suns, moons & stars; a small clock set to 2 o' clock covers the lower half of Karma]  A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter by Nikki Giovanni  contemporary literary nonfiction memoir  William Morrow, reissued 2024 (originally 2017)  In poetry and poetic prose, Prof. Giovanni* honors the people, families, communities, and places that nurtured and schooled and educated her. She shares insights from personal and professional lessons learned.  from "The Tassel's Worth the Hassle: An Introduction"  Sometimes people confuse school with education. School is a good idea. Education is the exciting trip...  Her immediate family, friends, neighbors along with mentors and creative counter...

An assortment of very satisfying reads...  [3 books arranged next to each other from left to right: The Queen's Spade, Casanegra, First-Time Caller]  The Queen's Spade by Sarah Raughley  historical literary fiction  Harper, January 2025  Sarah Forbes Bonetta has a vengeance to-do list, and her plan includes making everyone who's on it regret that they ever did her wrong. Her mission is packed with intrigue, danger, double-crosses, unexpected allies, and layered historical context encompassing much more nuance than typical white-washed historical fiction. Start reading this irresistible tale when there's enough time to savor it without being interrupted.  Casanegra (Tennyson Hardwick #1) by Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes  contemporary mystery fiction  Atria Books, paperback reprint 2025 - originally 2008  Wrong place, wrong time jeopardizes anti-hero Tennyson Hardwick's freedom and his life. Alienation, grief, family drama, and...

It was an especially challenging week last week with more of the same expected this week so here's a lighthearted post about bookmarks and their noble duty of preventing crimes against books, like creased, folded and bent pages.   [6 actual bookmarks and 5 improvised bookmarks: East City Book Shop, Old Town Books, "Black History Month", Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Anne Arundel County Public Library, 5 clothing tags from assorted brands, "Welcome to the Library" with welcome in various languages]  Bookmarks from bookstores, libraries, as event swag from authors are lovely charming, useful in placeholding function and advertising. And then there are the interesting, eye-catching tags that always make me think, "This would make a perfect bookmark!" even though I already own more bookmarks than needed for at least two lifetimes.  This week's reading indulgences  [a book stack with 5 books from top to bottom: The Queen's Spad...

Lingering h oliday vibes roll into the Valentine's Day weekend love fest.  [3 books face-up from left to right, then down: One Big Happy Family, A Novel Christmas, Sleeping with the Frenemy; all arranged against a backdrop of hearts gift wrap]  A Novel Christmas by Charity Shane'  contemporary romance  Black Odyssey Media, September 2024  Writer's block has romance author Saira Wright feeling bah-humbug when her publisher commands her to write a holiday romance. Enter volunteer firefighter Dorian Black, new neighbor and landlord, and Christmas magic ignites while addressing grief and healthy, joyous ways of moving forward.  Sleeping with the Frenemy (Vega Family #3) by Natalie Cana  contemporary romance  Mira, October 2024  In this adversaries-with-previous-benefits second chance love story Sofia and Leo get unsolicited help from charming meddlesome senior citizens, a fur baby, circumstances beyond their control, and chemistry that smokes off...

Love is often messy and hard work.  True, healthy, fulfilling love that endures, grows, and strengthens is worth the effort.  [a small heart-shaped chocolate cake decorated with a curving vine next to a smaller pink heart]    [a book stack of 4 books from top to bottom: Love Delayed, No Ordinary Duchess, Earl Crush, The Real Body Manual: Your Visual Guide to Health & Wellness]  The Real Body Manual: Your Visual Guide to Health & Wellness by Nancy Redd  non-fiction health and science  Avery, October 2024  Although the target audience is young people who are entering puberty, an introduction, seven sections named according to the areas and functions they address, a "final word" followed by the author bio, acknowledgments, notes, credits, and an index work together with numerous photographs to inform readers from puberty to most seasoned adulthood about what's happening with their bodies. Parents, guardians, and trusted adult mentors will all...

No reviews this week as binge reading for pure pleasure helps me cope with life's insanity. Also, a few days ago something happened at the grocery store that amused and encouraged me. [3 books being held on the edge of a person's hand, from top to bottom: A Novel Christmas by Charity Shane', The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning, One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery; all 3 against a "love" & hearts patterned background]    [the back of a man standing with a woman's large handbag on his shoulder while leaning against a countertop in a grocery store; he's standing under a "restrooms" sign hanging from the ceiling]  From the "tell me you've been together a long time without telling me you've been together a long time" files:  On my way out of my local grocery store, the man shown above accepted the handbag hanging over his shoulder from a woman who then walked into the ladies restroom; no words were exchanged although ...

Have read & will read books  [5 books, from left to right: front hardcover up of Murder in Berkeley Square; paperback spines up of Love Delayed, The Wingman, Love You a Latke, I'll Be Gone for Christmas]  Murder in Berkeley Square (Lady Worthing #3) by Vanessa Riley  historical mystery  Kensington Books, September 2024  An array of privileged people snowed in together with a killer tests Lady Worthing's and her fellow sleuth's powers of deduction in this lively installment that offers twists, turns, and reversals of fortune. Shocking departures and arrivals also included. As always, the author's (research) notes provide insightful context.  [bookstack of 3 paperbacks: Under Loch and Key, Mr. Nice Spy, Twisted Knight]  Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson  contemporary romance with supernatural elements   Berkley, December 2024  In addition to an irresistible combatants-to-lovers romance, Keyanna and Lachlan's love story offers re...

In each of the following books characters tap into their freedom to choose who they will become and how they'll move forward with their lives despite significant opposition.   [a bookstack of 5 titles from top to bottom: Deja Brew, Bad Witches, Magical Meet Cute, How to Help a Hungry Werewolf, American Ghoul]  American Ghoul by Michelle McGill-Vargas  historical speculative literary fiction  Blackstone Publishing, September 2024  Hard choices often generate unintended consequences and Lavinia's choices create collateral damage for herself and others. Is she a reliable narrator of her journey? Maybe or maybe not. A mash-up of The 1619 Project meets Interview with the Vampire and a supernatural Thelma and Louise. Sly levity makes the heavy themes less crushing. Insightful sociopolitical observations track a continuum from the racist, sexist, classist past to the real-life present. Racial slurs of the time included.  [printing note: My borrowed library ha...

  [an ornate small round picture frame with a paint brush angled across it, a camouflage fishing hat under a wristwatch next to a closed pocket journal with an ink pen on top of it]  Puck & Prejudice (Rink Meets Regency #1) by Lia Riley  contemporary historical mashup romance  Avon, November 2024  Contemporary sports romance + Regency historical romance + time travel = reading joy.  From chapter 5:  The moments of chemistry happened when and where there was some kind of alchemy in the blend of personality and atmosphere.  Lizzy and Austin's love story offers readers the best mix of engaging characters, multiple tropes, and nods to Jane Austen at a brisk pace that supports the humor, tenderness, and layered emotional substance.  Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North  contemporary romance/women's fiction  St. Martin's Griffin, June 2024  When marching to the beat of her own drum leaves Liz feeling out of step with her husb...

These books deal with trauma, its aftermath, healing, and renewal.  [front cover art for BAD SEED: The Midnight Cries of an Island Girl, A Novel by Cherry Dawn Fagbemi; a night scene with a starry sky above a home with its exterior and interior lights shining on the first floor]  BAD SEED: The Midnight Cries of an Island Girl by Cherry Dawn Fagbemi  contemporary fiction  November 2024  "Montego Bay was where I should have died in the summer of 1985."  And with that first sentence, Vivienne Pearson's harrowing saga of being haunted by the resurgence of disturbing memories of past events relevant to her present life and choices starts a compelling tale of heavy themes and dangerous circumstances. It's a potent blend of mystery, thriller, family conflict, social commentary, and romance.  Vivienne confronts her confusion, devastating heartache, alienation and more as she navigates a series of traumas in order to heal and to reclaim herself and her life....