Still many gifts to wrap, goodies to bake, package & deliver, finish decorating the tree... and reading for pleasure remains a necessity!   [front hardcover of Fat Girls Dance by Cathleen Meredith showing 3 curvaceous women striking poses; book is arranged atop an open piano with cords displayed]  Fat Girls Dance by Cathleen Meredith  contemporary fiction   2024  Don't wait.  Don't wait to be your authentic self. Don't wait to dance, to love, to pursue your heart's deepest desires... This story of friendship and audacity offers angst, humor, and compelling reasons to live life with unapologetic intention.  Currently reading  [Bad Seed: The Midnight Cries of an Island Girl held over a horizontal bookstack of 4 books - Just Playing House, Magical Meet Cute, Christmas Sweater Weather, The Royals Upstairs]   Pre-Christmas gifts: garlic bread with zero calories! Zero fat! Zero sodium! Zero everything! Typos make it true, right??...

Last weekend's Local Author Expo event sponsored by the Prince Goerge's County Memorial Library System offered too much bookish goodness to list it all, but here's a sampling...  [collage of 7 images; 3 on the right & left and 1 down the center: Lofty Stories author Jamila Romero standing behind her display table, Prince George's County Memorial Library System Local Author Expo 2024 poster, Accountability in the Classroom Author Renee Carr next to her daughter behind their table, Fueled from the Heart: a collection of inspirational poems author Samuel R. Jackson holding a copy of his book while standing behind his table, Positive Vibes Kids author Preston Mitchum, Jr. holding one of his books while standing behind his table, Unseen Victories author Juliet Agocha holding 2 of her books while standing behind her table, I Love My People author Kim Singleton holding her book while standing in front of her table]  [collage of 5 images: Digital Assassins author Danielle S...

Being other-ed [Seen Yet Unseen: A Black Woman Crashes the Tech Fraternity by Bari A. Williams hardcover facing forward next to a stack of 7 books from top to bottom: One and Done, The Book Swap, She Who Knows, Lady Eve's Last Con, How to End a Love Story, Stay, There Should Have Been Eight]  Seen Yet Unseen: A Black Woman Crashes the Tech Fraternity by Bari A. Williams  non-fiction  Blackstone Publishing, May 2024  An introduction, twelve chapters that report and examine, a conclusion, acknowledgments, and extensive notes, together reveal the numerous ways in which excluding Black women from every aspect of the tech industry perpetuates harmful stereotypes (despite feedback supported by legitimate hard data) that are ultimately problematic for everyone, eventually.  Maybe that's the intention.  from Chapter 7: This Is What True Allyship Looks Like  Diversity exhaustion is the feeling of being tired of hearing about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE...