A while ago, one of my book reading groups, both consisting solely of women, came to a discussion of how disappointed we were with the male authors we had chosen to read. From Trey Ellis’ Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single Fatherhood, to Steve Harvey’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man […]
Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
There is a new volume of Brothers Grimm fairy tales published by Taschen. It only contains 27 of the most beloved stories but what sets it apart is the artwork, collected from illustrators from various countries working between the 1820s and the 1950s. I’m likely not to get it because when I do obtain a […]
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
This is a novel written in 1975 by an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, and physician (psychiatrist), Nawal El Saadawi. It was as working as a physician that Saadawi observed the inequalities faced by women and connected them to their physical and psychological ill-health. Her activism against female oppression has often landed her in jail and […]
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez
B&N link “The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.” Thus begins the book I just read at the recommendation of a guy-friend. The title itself should have given me a clue that this is a book I should probably not […]
Cloth Girl: A Novel by Marilyn Heward Mills
Click for Amazon link I just finished this 560 page novel and I’m not quite sure where to begin. So many thoughts! First things first, Cloth Girl is the debut novel for lawyer turned author Marilyn Heward Mills. It was shortlisted for one of UK’s prestigious Costa first novel award in 2006. The brief synopsis: […]
The Solitude of Prime Numbers: A Novel by Paolo Giordano
Click for B&N link Prime numbers are divisible only by 1 and by themselves. They hold their place in the infinite series of natural numbers, squashed, like all numbers, between two others, but one step further than the rest. They are suspicious, solitary numbers, which is why Matttia thought they were wonderful. Sometimes he though […]
The Air Between Us: A Novel by Deborah Johnson
I took this book with me to Barbados in February but was too distracted by the blue skies, blue sea, and fine white sand to even open it. So I took it with me this past week to Jamaica. This time, I had a four hour layover which was incentive enough to start the read. […]
The Reader: A Novel by Bernhard Schlink
After Portnoy’s Complaint, I returned to my “To Be Read Bookshelf” and picked out The Reader. Oh how fun, more tales of a boy and his infatuations. However, though this statutory rape (isn’t that what it’s called when a person has sex with another below the age of consent?) features throughout I get and appreciate […]
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
Amazon link This 1969 novel had me all confused. I didn’t know whether I should be amused or be offended or be disgusted or even be empathetic. All these emotions vying with one another. Oy vey! Which reminds me, I haven’t had to look up words as often as I did reading this. Yiddish words. […]
Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice
Amazon link Do you ever read a title of a book, think it sounds delicious and pick it up just because of that? Well, that’s how I came to read this novel. I didn’t even read the script on the front describing it as a novel about “a woman’s journey to find her own heart […]
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.