Apologies for cropping off your name, Tiphanie Yanique!  The Library of Congress did it again!  So many authors, books, and booklovers gathered in Washington, D.C. (IRL and virtually) yesterday, Saturday, August 12th to celebrate all things bookish.  My attempt to watch as many sessions as possible in real time was only somewhat successful because just about every creative and topic interested me. I'll spend the next few days catching up with the recordings.  https://www.c-span.org/video/?529568-2/national-book-festival-kickoff-librarian-congress-carla-hayden A few highlights:  Tananarive Due and Grady Hendrix's chat with the host of NPR's Code Switch (apologies for not knowing that brilliant human's name) offered an engaging jackpot of insights, personal revelations, and humor. It also led me to add Due's Civil Rights nonfiction title, which I'd somehow missed, co-written with her mom to my TBR list.     from the Poverty, By America chat b...

  The library never disappoints!  Celebrating Black Books Matter Day in gorgeous Prince George's County Maryland with books borrowed from the Prince George's County Memorial Library System and also the Anne Arundel County Public Library.  My summer book binge continues. More actual reviews this fall after the 5th annual The Write Women Book Fest Saturday, October 14 readers experience day at the Bowie Comfort Inn Conference Center & Sunday, October 15 authors professional developing & networking day at Marietta House Museum.  https://www.thewritewomenbookfest.org/ Happy reading & creating! 

  Many thanks to Studio B Arts & Activities Alliance in Boyertown, Pennsylvania  https://www.studiobbb.org/ for selecting "Words Echo History Loops" for inclusion in their Legacy: Remembrance Matters anthology edited by Jane E. Stahl and Mish Murphy! This collection offers an assortment of engaging, prose, poetry, photographs, artistic renderings, and essays from talented creatives. Poetry isn't my usual format, but so much of the news reminds me of the bad old days of oppression from centuries past (as learned from educators,  classes and books sourced from legitimate historic documents) that this piece flowed from my heart and mind in one short writing session.  Not the Ones Dead (Kate Shugak #23) by Dana Stabenow  mystery  Head of Zeus - Aries Books, April 2023  Once again Mutt*, Kate, Jim, and their overlapping circles of family, friends, and associates work hard to unravel interwoven oddities that just might strangle them and their intimate ...

  Currently reading Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor by Kim Kelly from Atria/One Signal (April 2022). The parallels between the institutionalized enslavement of Black people and the exploitation of the Labor class are obvious.  Symbols of Freedom: Slavery and Resistance Before the Civil War by Matthew J. Clavin  non-fiction sociopolitical history  NYU Press, June 2023  From the introduction:  Interrogating the impact of national language and symbols comes with some risk...  The aversion to nationalism derives largely from its relationship with racism... According to historian Anthony Marx, efforts to codify racism that intended to unite White people unintentionally brought Black people together. They moreover emboldened them to challenge their oppressors.  Enslaver versus Abolitionist--this text and the United States grapple with the context of these oppositional forces that embody the fundamental contradictions of "the land ...

high anxiety, hilarity, deja vu, do-overs    tricky magic and unpredictable consequences  author freebies and the adventures of adjunct professors    In the charming, layered Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up by Charish Reid threads about adjunct professors as exploited gig workers in academia reminded me of similar themes in Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood.  During this year's Independence Day observance in the U.S. it's clear that forces for regression when it comes to equal protection under the law and the basic inalienable right to exist in peace are gaining momentum. These books encouraged, entertained, distracted and challenged me. Taking time to recharge to continue fighting. 

The Sergeant, The Incredible Life of Nicholas Said: Son of an African General, Slave of the Ottomans, Free Man Under the Tsars, Hero of the Union Army  by Dean Calbreath  non-fiction history  Pegasus Books, February 2023  Author's note, twenty-eight chapters, epilogue, notes, and an index recount the details of one impressive man's journey across continents and through pivotal historic times and events.  from near the end of the epilogue:  He [Nicholas Said] witnessed firsthand the impact of jihads in the Muslim world, enslavement in Africa, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, unrest in Tsarist Russia, the golden age of European aristocracy, and the Civil War and Reconstruction in the United States.   It's a compelling march through history as humanized by Nicholas Said's experiences in his own words about them in addition to others' observations about him.   Double the Lies (Annalee Spain #2) by Patricia Raybon  early 20th-c. fiction, m...

Polywise: A Deeper Dive into Navigating Open Relationships by Jessica Fern with David Cooley  non-fiction  Thornapple Press, August 25, 2023  Polywise encourages readers to embark on a journey of personal excavation of entrenched beliefs and default assumptions about themselves, their families, their romantic and sexual relationships, friendships, and hidden emotional tripwires, too.  In addition to a personable back-and-forth (used sparingly) between the author and the contributor, this text offers exercises, questions, and prompts to engage readers to explore and pursue intentional conscious recognition of who they are as individuals, what they need and want, and why, as well as healthy ways to attain them--or let them go if necessary.  Consensual Nonmonogomay (CNM) is the initial hook while tools and strategies for understanding the facets, layers, and impacts of nonmonogamy as orientation and/or lifestyle choice establish a unifying through line.  from...