#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks January 2017 Link-Up!

January is coming to an end, and we have a whole month of reading our own damn books behind us!

I managed to finish quite a few of the books that have been hanging out on my stacks. I hope you'll share your own posts, reviews, and check-ins down below!

Finished this month:

• Princess Jellyfish 01 by Akiko Higashimura
• The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
• Sula by Toni Morrison
• March: Book One by John Lewis, et al

Your turn!

#ReadSoulLit 2017

In honor of Black History Month--February here in the US--my friend Didi from Brown Girl Reading is hosting #ReadSoulLit. The hashtag is active all year long, so there are tons of reading recommendations floating around out on the Internets. Didi is also running an Instagram #ReadSoulLit photo challenge during February, so don't miss it!

These are the books I have in mind to read, but things change constantly. It's fun to see what the actual end result turns out to be.

Bedrock Faith by Eric Charles May - This is the readalong choice for #ReadSoulLit, so come on over and join the Goodreads group for discussion.
Women, Culture, and Politics by Angela Y. Davis - I'm reading this o
+-ne along with Aarti, Ana, and Iris. Looking forward to discussing my first book from Angela Y. Davis.
Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson (#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks) - Has been on my e-reader for too long. Defintiely ready to dig in.
Like Trees, Walking by Ravi Howard (#ReadMyOwDamnBooks) - Second verse, same as the first. Another book that's been lounging on my e-reader.
Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow by Daniel Hunter (#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks) - I found this one on sale, and while I haven't read The New Jim Crow, I'm diving right into this book on activism and organizing.
Zone One by Colson Whitehead (#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks) - Another too-long-on-the-ereader novel, and I have yet to read anything of Colson Whitehead's.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks) - I definitely need more physical books, and this one is at the tippy top of my #ReadMyOwDamnBooks list.

I hope you'll join in for #ReadSoulLit! Only good things to come.

#Diverseathon: January 22-29

Diverseathon is here! I'm later posting this and the accompanying video than I wanted to be, but this was a busy week. Here's the video with a list of titles down below. 



If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Sula by Toni Morrison
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson
The Book of Joy by the Dailai Lama and Desmond Tutu
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler

Diverseathon is hosted by Joce, Christina Marie, Monica Watson, and Simon Savidge. It began on BookTube but anyone is welcome to join. There was even an announcement that Naz and Mara will be joining to promote the event across platforms.


I'm totally stoked because I have a lot of good stuff to read. So let's go! 

Other stuff you need to check out across the interwebs: 
Janani's review of Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
This Was My First Protest and I'm Sorry by Jess at Don't Mind the Mess
Did's review of Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

Haint No Stopping Us Now: The Turner House

I started The Turner House, by Angela Flournoy, sometime over my winter break when I was trying to read 12 books in 24 days. I also started a metric ton of other books, so it took me a little longer to read this than I'd anticipated. At times, I also found myself reading slowly and stretching it out because I was enjoying it and wasn't ready to be done.

The Turners, Viola and Francis, have 13 children and raise them in Detroit. As the book opens, Viola is getting up in age and losing her independence. The Turners' house sits empty in a crumbling neighborhood amidst rising crime.

Cha Cha, the oldest of the Turner kids takes care of everything whether his siblings always appreciate that or not. He and his wife Tina take care of his mother, and when it's time to decide what to do with the family home, Cha Cha is not so fond of being the patriarch.

The book bounces around from various perspectives: Cha Cha, dealing with the fallout from an accident at his job, seeing a therapist, and haunted by a haint, or restless spirit; Lelah, the youngest of the Turner siblings, newly evicted with a gambling addiction; Troy, a police officer who resents Cha Cha; Viola and Francis when they were young, separated by distance, struggling,  and Cha Cha was the only child.

My favorite thing about this book was the narrative voice. It felt comfortable, easy to settle in, and the individual characters, as well as the setting, were vivid. It was quirky, charming, but there were also a lot of heavier themes at play. The supernatural element, as well as the rotating perspectives, really kept this one moving, and while I usually don't like rotating narrators, this one suited me just fine.

By the end, it did buckle a bit. While I continued to love all of the wonder things I mentioned above, it got cluttered. I think it could've been more cohesive, even if it had to be a little longer to flesh out some of the latter chapters.

Angela Flournoy is a formidable voice, and even though this book let me down just the tiniest bit at the end, I'll read anything she writes.