Today’s Friday find is a 1964 concert from Mahalia Jackson I found while browsing YouTube.
Mahalia Jackson was a voice! The majesty of her voice and her ability to envelope the listener and move them through the song is amazing. Not only did she project while keeping her voice clear, she emoted and transported the listener in every. single. song.
Mahalia Jackson
Born in New Orleans on October 26, 1911, Jackson was raised in her Aunt’s household after her mother passed when she was five. In her Aunt’s household, Jackson was only allowed to listen to gospel music and no secular music.
After making the rounds in churches in Chicago, Jackson recorded her first Gospel record in 1948. The song she recorded was “Move On Up A Little Higher” for Apollo records. This record saw groundbreaking success since no gospel song had ever achieved the extent of sales Jackson obtained on the secular side of the music industry with the song. Stores across the nation scrambled to keep up with the demand for Mahalia Jackson’s first and greatest hit. To my untrained ear, “Move On Up A Little Higher” has a bluesy jazz undertone that would’ve fit into the juke joint playlist of the time well, which is why I assume the song probably performed so well in sells.
Mahalia Jackson performing “Move On Up A Little Higher”
After this success, Jackson became a worldwide sensation. Storming radio and television, areas that were then off-limits to African American musicians and entertainers, Jackson became not just a vocal sensation, but eventually went on to host a popular CBS radio show In 1954 called the Mahalia Jackson Show. This Sunday night radio show ran for twenty-eight episodes from September 1954 to February 1955.
Mahalia Jackson & Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
On the Mahalia Jackson Show, Jackson showcased a singing repertory that ranged from spirituals and gospel numbers to show tunes and sentimental parlor songs. She was backed by the pianist, Mildred Falls; organist, Ralph Jones; and the vocal harmony of the Jack Halloran Quartet.
According to scholar Mark Buford in the book, Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field, “The [Mahalia Jackson] Show was a turning point for Jackson as an artist and as a public figure, as she negotiated ambiguous and shifting performance contexts” (2018, p. 279). Jackson’s show also highlighted the interdependence of Black Civil Rights and The Cold War in how the singer was often asked to sing in front of audiences who wished her and her people ill treating her as a second class citizen while also spouting patriotic rhetoric against the countries adversaries.
Other appearances Jackson did also helped lift Gospel music from only being a genre sung in churches and at community revivals into a mainstream American genre of music. This can be seen in Jackson’s 1956 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, in her performance a the White House for President Eisenhower and at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and even when she travelled with Dr. King throughout the South. The last event is of importance because it was Jackson who prompted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to tell of his “dream” leading to the infamous “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington.
Mahalia Jackson’s 1960 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show
Some of Jackson signature songs include, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” Come Sunday,” “Move On Up a Little Higher,” and my personal favorite, “How I Got Over.”
To this day, Mahalia Jackson has remained as a staple and blueprint for many of our favorite musical artist.
Long time no see, bookish peeps! I hope you all have had a wonderful 2023 and are having a great week!
I guess no one was going to tell me that Friendsgiving is next week. Hee Hee, I was shocked to learn from my family that next week is already another holiday here Stateside. Do you all celebrate the holiday or are you just taking it as another day?
On a more bookish note, I’m finally back with another WWW Wednesday!
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words and asks readers to answer the following questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last or are currently reading?
If I’m being honest with you all, I haven’t finished a full book in about three weeks, going on a month now. I’ve been working on several work presentations and a conference presentation and time got away from me when it came to reading.
The books I’ve started for my “African Literature” and “Finish A Series”/”Author” categories included: Devil on the Cross by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o, Destination Biafra by Buchi Emecheta, and Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery.
I previously read Thiong’o’s A Grain of Wheat as a graduate student when I was studying for my Literary & Cultural Studies degree and took a Post-Colonialism and Transnationalism course and then finished his folklore/fantasy-esque novel, Wizard of the Crow, earlier this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the expansiveness and intricacies of the world Thingo’o built in Wizard of the Crow to convey his moral tale. What I love about this Kenyan author’s work is that he first and foremost shuns the idea that Western Literature is the center and chose to write Devil on the Cross (1980) in his native tongue, which is Gĩkũyũ. Thiong’o then translated the Devil on the Cross himself to publish in English.
Like Wizard of the Crow, this novel is a satire about the patterns post-colonial and post-imperialistic countries fall into when trying to establish their independence from the colonizer. Where Wizard of the Crow was a tale that was more light-hearted and satirical with elements of fantasy, folklore, and Kenyan mythology, Devil on the Cross is a darker tale. Here, Thiong’o leans heavily toward satirizing the moral tales of the Bible and pairing Kenyan folklore with Christian Biblical references. In Devil on the Cross, the author also satirizes African political events generally and then, heavily evoking instances in Kenyan politics specifically. So, it was not too shocking to learn that this novel was written on toilet paper while Thiong’o had been jailed as a political prisoner in Kenya in 1977 after staging his play, Ngaahika Ndeena (I Will Marry When I Want), which was written as an expose on the ruling class of Kenya in the voice of the workers and peasants of the country. With Thiong’o, political themes run deep. This shows in Devil on the Cross’s contents.
So far, I am enjoying this third novel from the author for how he has once again given voice to the little person who gets ran over by the capitalistic and political forces when post-colonial and post-imperialistic atmospheres arrive in a building nation. As we follow his cast of characters, it is clear that each character is representative of a different group of society in this new nation (ex: the scholar, the poor and working class, the business tycoon, the politician, and the vulnerable and unprotected woman who is at risk of violence at all sides).
Thiongo’o’s cast is on their way to what they call “the Devil’s Feast” where the modern thief will be crowned. This thief is the person who has managed to stealthily steal from the poor and their fellow human to the grandest degree without remorse. The judges at this feast are the original thieves, the Western (US, UK, Dutch, French) and Euro-asian (Japan and Russia) leaders who originally stole land and resources from Africa and the Global South. The main character of Devil on the Cross is Wariinga, who leads us through this story. Wariinga represents the female body who is usually the person who suffers worse in times of war and reconstruction. I highly suggest reading this book. However, I will warn that the book is slow going in pace, so try and have a lighter read to pair with it.
Like Thiong’o’s novel, Destination Biafra by Buchi Emecheta is also a wartime post-colonial novel. But, Emecheta writes about the Biafran Civil War in the 1960s from the female perspective using her character Debbie. Debbie is the daughter of the Minister of Finance in Nigeria. As war breaks out in her country, Debbie decides to eschew the money grabbing and flashy ways of her parent and their social set and join the fight as a soldier. This decision appears to be made in haste on Debbie’s part. Yet, as with many of Emecheta’s books, the reader gets to relive parts of the author’s thoughts and experiences through her characters.
This is my ninth novel from Emecheta this year for my “Year of Emecheta.” Out of all her books, this is her most “serious” topic she writes in the introduction since it allows her to make peace with the fact that she was not able to be in Nigeria during the Biafran War. Emecheta goes as far as to say that this is her first “masculine” novel. While I am only in the beginning parts of her book, I can agree that this novel unlike the other eight I have read this year feels as if it is heftier and less focused on the dramatic tropes she uses to talk about family life as an expat in London or village life in Nigeria. Unlike my favorite Emecheta novels, The Family (also called Gwendolyn), Naira Power, and Second-Class Citizen, Destination Biafra, pans out from the Nigerian family who is usually the focus of the author’s stories, and instead focuses on Nigerian politics.
Where Emecheta would usually have her female characters telling the majority of the story, the plot is mostly seen through male characters eyes in Destination Biafra. Additionally, Emecheta’s personal history is centered less in this book than the other stories I have read from her, such as Second-Class Citizen, In the Ditch, Kehinde, or Double Yoke. In these stories, much like the Antinguan author, Jamaica Kincaid, Emecheta has a way of popping up into her stories as a thinly veiled fictional version of herself to offer her thoughts on characters’ behaviors or life as she sees it. I enjoy this aspect of Emecheta’s work, but in books like Double Yoke, the author lays it on thick to the point of sacrificing the plot in favor of inserting her likeliness into the story. That being said, it’s too early to say if I’d recommend this particular Emecheta. Nevertheless, I highly highly recommend her other adult fiction novels, The Joys of Motherhood, The Family/Gwendolyn, Kehinde, In the Ditch, and the YA novellas, The Moonlight Bride and The Wrestling Match, which are all books I read earlier this year and loved.
Last but not least, I am finishing up the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. This series happens to be my older sister’s favorite series, so I wanted to read it to discuss it with her and because my younger brother and I loved the cartoon version of the show when we were little. I am currently on the sixth book in the series, Anne of Ingleside. I’ll hold my thoughts until I finish all the books and report back.
Have you read any of the Anne of Green Gable books?
What will you read next?
Besides finishing the books I mentioned, I’ve also been working my way through the American Girl series after repurchasing the Addy books and finding the rest through my local library and Internet Archive. I realized earlier in the year that I had never really read all the books. With the exception of reading Addy’s series all the way through, each book series felt fresh to me. In certain cases, like with Molly and Samantha’s story, I vaguely remember reading or watching a made for tv movie as a kid or tween and had my memory jogged about minor plot details. Otherwise, I was enthralled with each book.
So far I’ve read almost all of the core dolls’ book series, with the exception of Samantha and Josefina. After I finish these two collections, I will be reading the other dolls series. If you have small children who are interested in what young children would have experienced during different eras in American and Canadian history, I would highly suggest these book series.
That’s all for me in terms of reading.
Did you read American Girl, Dear America, or Dear Canada books as a kid?
One more thing before you go….
Since I haven’t done a Sunday Post episode here, I’ll also let you know what music I’m listening to. I’ve recently got into YouTube playlist videos. I found these cool playlists that add a nice touch to my morning hourly DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) sessions. Each playlist has elements that help me focus. From soothing rain sounds, classical tracks, and lo-fi, I highly commend these playlist channels to enhance your reading pleasure.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably remember my Sunday series, where I talk about my reading habits and how technology and my personal routine impact what I read and how I read. Today’s installment of this series will focus on how algorithm culture impacts my reading habits.
Before we get to the personal, we will have to take it back and talk about the creation of social media and the business of reading.
Let’s jump in!
How did Web 2.0 & Social Media change our reading habits?
At the inception of Web 2.0, the Internet moved from being a one-sided text-driven medium into a “participatory and collaborative” space with “user-generated content,” according to David Beer of the University of York. Pre-Web 2.0, consumers were force-fed information and made to engage in a one-sided relationship with businesses.
Web 2.0 gave everyday people a chance to have a voice and opinion about the goods being sold to them. With hobbies like reading, readers didn’t have to rely on a book critic at the New York Times or even their favorite celebrity influencer to tell them what the next big read was. Instead, the average reader can now use interactive sites like Goodreads, Storygraph, and *gasp* Amazon’s review pages to talk about what they are reading and recommend their favorite books to others. Thus, moving from the role of a passive consumer into that of an amateur book critic.
TLDR: Web 2.0 democratized reading and publishing.
With this democratization, anyone with access to a viable Internet connection and time on their hands could easily jump online and set up shop handing out literary criticism to make themselves the next Oprah or Michiko Kakutani. And this is what got the publishing industry a little flustered.
How Has Social Media Democratized Reading?
Before social media became a thing, the publishing industry was going through it, trying to figure out how they would stay afloat and compete with digital technologies. If you’ve ever heard that age-old debate about ebooks vs. physical books, you’ll get the gist of what got the industry up in arms.
Yet, it wasn’t only the industry that became frustrated with the democratization of reading. The high-brow readers who found solace in the Kakutani’s of the world validating their seasoned taste in books were just as frustrated as publishers. After all, if any teeny-bopper with a webcam was allowed to expose the virtues of their favorite Young Adult authors and scream about how great it was, did “real reading” even exist anymore?
Thus, the book Influencer was born.
For the hardcore readers (and I use this term loosely here) along with the publishing industry, the introduction of Web 2.0 shook up the status quo. Not only were online book retailers able to impact profit margins, but they also empowered the average reader to voice their opinion and slowly began to dictate the market’s taste. And while it’s still hard to get smaller BIPOC authors’ books to the New York Times Bestseller list versus a white author in the same genre, Web 2.0 has allowed BIPOC authors a better chance to build an organic fanbase.
With that organic fanbase, a smaller author can potentially galvanize their subscribers into action to help them sell out their books or even help them get their backlist publicized more. Now, they may not have the success of a traditionally published author with the publishing machine behind them, but there is a chance that they can move units and make a noticeable impact.
That’s if they can work around the algorithm.
How much do algorithms play in building or swaying our reading habits?
Social media has allowed users worldwide and between business sectors to communicate and build connections instantly. It has also helped the industry and specific sites gather unfathomable amounts of data on niched demographics based on how users set up their profiles, what they click on and like, and whom they communicate with through the apps or sites. In theory, this can be a helpful thing. However, in the wrong hands, users’ data can be a weapon that manipulates a user or community into making choices that do not serve them.
With sites like Goodreads, the site’s algorithm appears innocent enough. But, as Simone Murray points out in her academic article, an algorithm, like most things, is built around the whims of its creators and then heavily influenced by the user’s choices. And as much as social media users are cautioned that algorithms are a neutral creation that is out of our hands, this isn’t necessarily true. After all, Murray makes an excellent point about how a user builds their profile and what content we engage with on an app heavily impacts the content we see.
Do you remember what the first Oprah’s Book Club was?
The Algorithm & Me, Then…
As an avid user of book-based social media, I tried to diversify my content by subscribing to users from different sectors of the Book-O-Sphere and who read different genres to see if that would help serve me varied content. Up until about 2015/6, this strategy worked somewhat.
Before this time, I would see varied content from bookstagramers users in India vs. the UK vs. Nigerian, for example. The same with users who liked literary fiction vs. middle-grade or young adult books. But, after sites like Instagram changed their algorithm only to show what was most popular, and publishers began to recruit users to do free labor by advertising ARCs, I felt as if the varied taste I’d come to know before had somehow been diluted, and I was being served the same content no matter what social media platform I was on.
As someone who happily gets ARCs, I have no hard feelings there. Nevertheless, I do miss that feeling of seeing organic reading taste from the early days of the Book-O-Sphere when users came to platforms to expose the virtues of their favorite authors, even if they weren’t New York Times Bestsellers. In the heyday of BookTube, I’d watch the smaller YouTubers to hear them chat up their favorite author and happily add those books to my Goodreads off the strength of trusting that creator was only pushing that book because they actually loved those books and not because they’d gotten the book for free.
During that time, I also felt creators were more readily themselves. Before we knew that saying we loved (or hated) “such and such book” would get us a lot of subscribers or likes, I’d see readers be more open with their opinions and book taste. On the other hand, this was also before we realized some authors weren’t there and would resort to stalking or public harassment if given a bad review. So, I do get it, even if I do miss that era of the Book-o-Sphere.
Random Social Media Bookish Facts
- More than 120 million members use the Goodreads platform globally.
- On TikTok, videos that used the #BookTok hashtag had received 42 billion views as of 2022.
- If a book is mentioned by a publisher’s Twitter account, it will receive higher engagement than books mentioned by non-publishers.
- Almost 10% of global reading is done on digital devices, a number that is constantly growing.
Source: Wordsrated.com
…and, Now
For me, though, the one thing that I noticed the longer I stayed on social media was that I, too, was prone to read what the crowds read or what the publisher started to push heavily. After the heaviness and chaos of the Pandemic pushed me offline, I’ve felt as if I finally have returned to my own taste in reading that’s mildly impacted by others and the publishing industry.
I’m still a big mood reader. This means I read whatever I feel like at the moment. But, I also have gotten back to enjoying Cooking and Travel Writing books, which I rarely see featured on the Book-O-Sphere unless it’s an Anthony Bourdain book or a cookbook or memoir highlighting travel published by a celebrity. And once again, these are sometimes great reads! But, I noticed that the ones that get pushed are usually only pushed because of the person’s name and not the content itself.
I read Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family by Madhushree Ghosh last year and was blown away by the way the author centered food as a catalyst for her journey to self-discovery. Ghosh tied this book to how domestic abuse impacted women in the South Asian culture, how she navigates being a woman in the STEM field, and even how the culinary arts colored her relationship with her parents. This book was a delight to read, but if I had waited to find it scrolling through my timeline as I used to, I would still be waiting for it to appear since it wasn’t a popular book. And this saddens me.
While the algorithm can sometimes be a good thing, the drawback of waiting until something is a hot-button issue or popular to discover it feels daunting. Add in that those hot-button issues also frequently come with high emotions, with readers splitting into differing camps online to argue (good-naturedly or not), and it’s a big NO for me.
Reading has always been my happy place. So, the moment that I feel that it jumps from being a hobby into a job where I have to play against the machine to find content I enjoy, I’m out. After all, who needs unnecessary stressors on top of real life?
What’s your thoughts on the algorithm and your reading habits?
Speaking of destressing, what’s on you all’s playlist this week?
Here are a few of my favorites this week.
Summer is the perfect time to dig out your Motown Records. My first pick this week is “(Love Is Like A) Heatwave” by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
Next up is Afrobeats. My go to bop from this genre at the moment is “Anybody” by Burna Boy.
Happy Wednesday from my little corner of the Book-O-Sphere, bookish peeps!
Today’s WWW Wednesday is a special one thanks to the kind people at Little, Brown And Company and Hear Our Voices. Thank both parties for the gifted e-ARC of The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander I’ll be talking about today!
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words and asks readers to answer the following questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
Let’s jump right in!
What did you read last?
I had the privilege of reading The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander this month, and it was a book that took me on an emotional rollercoaster.
Using Kofi Offin, an 11-year-old boy from Upper Kwanta, Alexander gives readers a chance to get a different perspective of what life could have been like for a young child in pre-colonial Africa. Readers will see Kofi be faced with learning about his family and village’s history, pursuing his love of swimming, and duking it out with his arrogant cousin, who is his age mate.
What made me love The Door of No Return is that Alexander starts his story with the understanding that people of the African Diaspora lived full and rich lives that did not originally cater to the white gaze. Kofi and his family are shown in their fullness and given agency over their stories without the story becoming voyeuristic.
This was something I appreciated as an empath because the history of those who were forced through a trading post on the Gold Coast before making the violent journey through the Middle Passage is always told in a way that centers whiteness. These gruesome stories almost read as if the authors want their readers to take pleasure in the disturbing details. However, Alexander handles Kofi’s story with care and humanizes this young boy and his village for readers.
If you are a reader who enjoys middle-grade fiction and is seeking a good place for yourself or your child to learn about the Middle Passage, I would highly recommend The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander. It also would pair nicely with a viewing of Viola Davis’ new film, The Woman King. The Door of No Return is also a part of a trilogy that Alexander will continue in the coming year.
Click below for an exclusive audio snippet of The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander to hear more from Alexander!
Excerpt from Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander
What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney. Goffney’s book follows Quinn, a high school senior, who loses her prized journal of list and is blackmailed into completing her secret bucket list before her masked antagonizer exposes her secret to the school. Quinn faces everything from racism to reveling in her Blackness to coping with her grandmother’s dementia. Through it all, Goffney highlights the aspects of community and family life that make for a good and realistic Young Adult novel.
What will you read next?
As always, I’m a mood reader, so I cannot tell you what I’ll be reading next. But, if you have any suggestions, leave them below!
We made it to the middle point of the week, bookish peeps! I hope your week has been going well!
This week is the start of my final year in my graduate program, and so far, it’s been a wonderful week full of new beginnings and blessings for me.
One of those blessings involves being able to finish a few books to share on this WWW Wednesday!
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words and asks readers to answer the following questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
Thank you to Penguin Random House Audio for the Advance Listening Copy (ALC) of 30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani and LibroFM for my ALC of Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean.
My first reads were Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean and 30 Things I Love About Myself by Radhika Sanghani. Each of these books focused on having the characters develop self-love and self-awareness by being radically honest with themselves and others.
For Emiko Jean’s character, Mika, a thirty-five year old, first-generation Japanese wannabe artist, her journey to self-awareness and radical self-love has many pitstops. These pitstops include finding her long-lost daughter, Penny, and masquerading as an established artist to impress said daughter. Throughout Jean’s novel, Mika quickly learns that every lie costs. To dismantle her castle of lies, Mika will have to confront her traumatic past and overcome generational curses.
If you are a reader who enjoys character exploration and aren’t afraid of sitting inside uncomfortable situations with a character, Mika in Real Life will be a novel you enjoy. The writing in this book is crisp and the characters are realistic when it comes to tackling issues, such as adoption and sexual trauma.
There are moments when the book feels as if Jean is stretching reality to its limits with how a character may react to a situation (cough cough…Mika’s plan to build a life so swiftly once she reconnects with Penny…cough cough). But, if the reader suspends reality, things like this silly plan can be overcome. For more empathic and sensitive readers, I would suggest being aware that Jean’s book tackles issues, such as sexual trauma, adoption, the death of a parent, and depression.
If you’re looking for similar themes, but delivered in a lighter vein, I would suggest reading 30 Things I Love About Myselfby Radhika Sanghani. I laughed out loud and snorted throughout reading this book.
While Jean and Sanghani both are writing about thirty-something women whose lives have fallen apart, Sanghani leans into the mess and plays up her character’s, Nina Mistry’s mishaps to sell readers on the absurdity of the self-help industrial complex.
Nina Mistry is a mess and she knows it! When she’s “gifted” a self-help book called, How to Fix Your Shitty Life by Loving Yourself by the police officer who’s guarding her in jail after her arrest at a protest the night before her thirtieth birthday, she sees it as fate. Nina quickly becomes obsessed with changing her life and those around her for the better. Her schemes involve discovering a newfound love of yoga and embracing her Indian heritage by calling out all that’s wrong with the racist world she lives in.
Simple, right? Yes and no.
Even though Sanghani’s character is earnest and open to whatever the world may throw her way, Nina is also heavy-handed in executing her radical self-love journey for maximum impact. This means readers see her trying to “eat, pray, love” her way to self-awareness with hilarious results. This book is tailor-made for lovers of books (and movies), like Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding.
I enjoyed this book for many of the same reasons that I adored Jean’s novel. But, the one thing I did find a little off-putting was how severe mental health issues, such as depression and talk of suicide, were handled. While Jean frames her story as a dramedy with a heavy emphasis on the drama, Sanghani’s choice to lean into the comedic part of her narrative makes it hard to pivot to talk about these serious topics and give them the necessary space. This causes readers to be thrown from laughing at Nina’s antics into careening into a scene where Nina is dealing with her father’s suicide and the depression of her brother. Because of these quick turns, I would suggest readers who are empathic or not ready to deal with these topics be aware before reading.
What are you currently reading?/ What will you read next?
Since it’s the start of the semester, I have nothing on my TBR just yet.
If you all have any suggestions, I would love to hear them in the comments below.
I hope you all have a wonderful week until we meet again!
Happy Wednesday from my little corner of the Book-o-sphere!
It’s been a while since I did a WWW Wednesday. But, I wanted to check in with you all about some amazing reads I was introduced to over the summer by Simon & Schuster for their #BlackLoveSummer campaign and hear about the books you all have been reading this season!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the gifted books I’ll be talking about below!
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words and asks readers to answer the following questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
Let’s Go!
What did you read last?
As a full-time student who also works and takes care of family, reading these days is a privilege and allows me to have a “woo-sahhh” moment. So, I’m always geeked to find books I can relate to and become engrossed in. Simon & Schuster delivered on both fronts!
Good Morning, Love follows Carlisa “Carli” Henton, a musician and songwriter who wants to follow in her father’s footsteps to become a musician, but on her own terms. By day Carli battles it out as a junior account manager at a media company in New York City and uses her free time to write songs with her friends in hopes of creating a hit. She crosses paths with Tau Anderson, one of the music industry’s rising R&B stars, and the pair’s world collides professionally and romantically.
Coleman’s novel is perfect for readers who enjoy seeing what happens behind the glitz and glam of the music industry. The author’s characters are fully fleshed out and make you root for them even when you know lines are being blurred.
For instance, as a junior account manager and woman in the industry, Carli sets strict boundaries on how she interacts with men. Upon meeting Tau, these lines are blurred, and Carli is placed in a precarious position as they bond over their shared interest and the music Carli hopes to one day create. For readers who have had to make tough decisions about their career as a woman or minority in their field while trying to navigate the ranks, Good Morning, Love will have moments where you may be able to point out similarities in your live to Carli’s and commiserate with the choices she has to make.
My absolute favorite part of the novel, though, is the atmospheric moments in the narrative where Coleman uses her words to transport readers into the spaces Carli inhabits, be it a club setting or transporting readers into the music Carli is making. This is where Good Morning, Love shines.
I would highly suggest this book to anyone who loves music and stories that have a gradual slow-burn romance that characters build throughout the story. This film felt like it would pair well with a viewing of the film Brown Sugar, which is a love letter to the creation of hip hop and follows two friends as they grow up to work in the music industry and gradually realize their love for one another.
Speaking of slow-burn romances, Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle is a perfect Young Adult read for summertime.
LaDelle’s novel follows two high schoolers, Dani Ford and Prince Jones, as they attempt to fall in love and conquer their senior year. Dani is slow to trust after being burned by love and losing her passion for love. Prince is sure he’s found “the one” in Dani and is more than willing to show her why he’s the perfect man for her. The only thing holding him back is that he’s trying to juggle being a caretaker for his mom, who has multiple sclerosis and acting as a father figure to his younger brother, Mook. Using his spot as a DJ and Detroit’s own “love guru,” Prince attempts to shoot his shot with Dani and show her how to believe in love and herself once again.
Love Radio is just what the doctor ordered for readers who love a solid romance novel with tropes, like love contracts, slow-burn romances, and a character who’s good at giving love advice but horrible at love.
LaDelle does a great job of crafting characters in Love Radio who are easy to root for. With Prince’s love of love and music and Dani’s beautiful prose when she references her favorite Black authors, LaDelle’s ability to build characters that are complex and believable shines through. However, my critique is that Prince and Dani feel as if they belong on a college campus instead of in high school. This is especially obvious in the scenes where Dani’s sexual assault trauma is discussed. While this isn’t a total weakness, if Love Radio is ever adapted for tv or film, I would love for this characterization and setting change to be played to make the novel’s action more believable.
As a Detroiter, I can say that LaDelle’s love for our shared hometown shines through with all the hidden Easter eggs she places in her book that only a fellow Detroiter would recognize. From drinking Vernor’s instead of ginger ale to skating at the Northland skating rink and trips to the Motown Museum, LaDelle hits a sweet spot for why the D is a special place to grow up and experience.
Besides a shared love of our hometown, my favorite part of LaDelle and Coleman’s books has to be the musical references. Check out this playlist to hear what soundtracks were playing as each artist wrote their books.
What are you currently reading?
I recently finished The Sandman on Netflix and instantly went looking for the graphic novel series. Originally written by Neil Gaiman and totaling more than 80 individual comics, this dark fantasy series blends mythology with horror and traditional DC comics to tell the story of Dream/Morpheus. This mythical character was imprisoned by humans for over 70 years and must go on a quest to get his Kingdom and treasures back from those who have stolen them from him.
The Netflix show ranks in my top three shows of summer, followed by Hulu’s The Bear and Starz’s P-Valley. The Bear is a dramedy about a mom-and-pop sandwich shop in Philadelphia and the cooking staff who works there. P-Valley is a Southern drama that does a deep dive into the inner workings of the cast of a strip club called The Pynk. Placed in the down-and-out town of Chucalisa, Mississippi, the cast constantly tries to claw their way up from the bottom to survive gentrification, the Rona, and life in general.
I binge-watched these shows and Coleman and LaDelle’s books for the two weeks I got for Summer Break.
What will you read next?
School’s back in session next week, which means my reading is back to textbooks and academic articles. The book I’m looking forward to is the last in the #BlackLoveSummer campaign, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beautyby Akwaeke Emezi.
Emezi tells the story of Feyi Adekola, an artist who is trying to recover from losing the love of her life as she finds love again. Granted a luxury trip to a tropical island where she starts a romance with a new man, Feyi is hopeful that she can “release the past and honor her grief” to gain a second chance at love. But, she must first contend with a third party who is possibly sabotaging her new love. I have the audiobook of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty ready for when I need a break from school.
For fans of My (Not So) Perfect Life and Jasmine Guillory’s While We Were Dating, a disarmingly fun debut novel follows Carlisa Henton as her life comes undone after a chance meeting with a rising pop star.
Carlisa “Carli” Henton is a musician and songwriter hoping to follow in her father’s musical footsteps. But, biding her time until she makes it big in the music industry, she works as a junior account manager at a big-name media company to cover her New York City rent. Carli meticulously balances her work with her musical endeavors as a songwriter—until a chance meeting with rising star Tau Anderson sends her calculated world into a frenzy. Their worlds collide and quickly blur the strict lines Carli has drawn between her business and her personal life, throwing Carli’s reputation—and her burgeoning songwriting career—into question.
A smart, timely, energizing romance, Good Morning, Love shows us what the glamorous New York’s music scene is really like and takes us into the lives of a rising but somewhat troubled R&B star and a promising protégé who knows her job better than she knows herself.
With fresh and honest prose, Good Morning, Love examines the uncertainty of being a new professional looking to chase a dream while also trying to survive in a world that’s not always kind to ambitious women
The Interview
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview you, Mrs. Coleman! Congratulations on publishing your novel, Good Morning, Love!
Introvert Interrupted: Can you tell readers about yourself and your journey to publishing Good Morning, Love?
Ashley M. Coleman: I am a writer and music industry executive. I’ve worked in music over ten years and so in many ways, it feels like Good Morning, Love is the debut novel it took a lifetime to write. Starting as a young person pursuing a career in music, I always felt like great stories lived there and like the people I was meeting were these larger-than-life characters. I started the story of Good Morning, Love to try to secure a writing fellowship and when that didn’t work out, I decided to keep going. I had a twenty-page sample that I liked so I kept writing. I was swirling around with this idea of what happens when a playboy falls in love? And that birthed the story of Tau and Carli. Thankfully, I was able to secure my agent in early 2020 and by the spring, we’d sold the manuscript to 37Ink/Simon &Schuster which has honestly been a dream come true.
II: How did you come up with the characters of Carlisa “Carli” Henton and Tau Anderson? Did you have any specific music artists in mind?
A: I like to say that they’re a composite of many artists. I absolutely love music. I listen to a lot of it for pleasure and for work. So, I took pieces of all the great artists I know both known and unknown to carve out the characters of Tau and Carli.
II: Carli’s story resonated with me as we see her walking a fine line in Good Morning, Love between having a “stable job” as a junior accounts manager and following her passion for becoming a singer and songwriter. To side characters, like Dylan and Red, Carli’s writing partners, Carli’s life feels charmed, causing her to receive flack for hustling to pursue her dreams.
In a time when some readers may also feel that they are being forced to choose between their passion and making a livable wage, what would you want readers to learn from Carli’s hustle mentality?
A: I would want readers to know that it is possible to do both. So often when we are from underrepresented communities, we don’t have the privilege of solely pursuing a creative dream. It’s a lot of hard work for sure which we see with Carli. But she has this knowing deep inside that there is something more for her. We don’t have to give up the dream for our survival. There may be some long nights or early mornings, but I think Carli’s character shows that it can be worth it.
II: Outside of being a wonderful storyteller, you also have a way of transporting your readers to a specific space and having us feel as if we’re there with the characters. Readers can see examples of this when Carli is in clubs performing her music or at the studio writing with her team and Tau. How did you learn to become such an atmospheric writer?
A: Having a bit of a background in journalism helps. It’s all about observation and so I’ve had practice in the area of trying to set the scene with words. The world of music is something I know intimately, so going to a place in my mind of a concert or open mic is so natural for me. I also like to try to put myself in a space when writing. For me, that’s music that helps set the tone for what I’m writing. It’s lighting a nice scent. All those things ground me in my story which I think helps translate that sense of atmosphere onto the page.
II: Carli and other women in Good Morning, Love are often hyper-aware of how their actions can be negatively perceived by their peers and the workplace. Yet, many male characters like Tau tend to act first and think about the consequences later. Was there a particular message you meant to convey with this outlook about the differences between your male and female characters’ approach to obtaining their goals and navigating the music industry?
A: I don’t think it’s something I did consciously, but as a woman who works in and around music, it’s something I’ve had a lot of conversations about with other women. Honestly, in many industries, women tend to think a lot about how they will be perceived. Whether they come across angry, too bossy, too sexy, the list goes on. I think it’s simply the nature of living in a patriarchal society. More specifically with music, it can be tricky because it is a social business where lines can easily be blurred. This aspect of the business, I think, gives women that hyper-awareness that we see in Carli’s story.
II: There are several instances where sexual assault is mentioned within your novel. Unfortunately, with cases like the R. Kelly case and the ongoing Russell Simmons case, your depiction of how women feel unprotected in the music industry and the world at large is very relevant. Why did you feel it was important to show this reality of the music industry in your novel?
A: It was most important to me to showcase how conflicting it can be when you are trying to get ahead but may have to work around people who make you feel unsafe. I guess more so I wanted to highlight how it’s not always the easiest decision it seems like it would be to simply walk away when so much is on the line. I wanted to show that sometimes it’s not always the extremes like the cases that you mention, but sometimes even in more nuanced ways.
II: While you combat challenging topics in your novel, my favorite part of Good Morning, Love is that #BlackLove is on full display with Carli and Tau’s relationship. How did you manage to write the chemistry between these two so effortlessly?
A: I love love stories. I mean I just eat them up. So, I think part of that ability really came from studying chemistry over the years in both books and film. It was somewhat easy to reference the moments when I find myself cheesing too hard watching or reading something and then being able to recreate those types of feelings in Good Morning, Love. The great part about fiction too is your characters become almost like real people. When you know them well and have flushed them out fully, you can visualize them interacting in a very three-dimensional way.
II: Good Morning, Love is such a vibe! Carli is often seen speaking about her favorite music artists. Outside of the Black Love Summer Playlist from Refinery 29, are there any music artists or albums that inspired your novel and characters?
A: I would just say R&B music in general. You know, a film like Brown Sugar focused on hip-hop and I would say that Good Morning, Love is almost like the cousin to that with a bit of a focus on R&B. I’m such a big fan of artists from back in the day like Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight to contemporary artists like Alex Isley, PJ Morton, and Lucky Daye among others. The feeling that a great R&B song gives you, to me, is what inspired both the book and characters.
II: Like Carli, you are a writer and media maven who has writing credits for major publications, such as Essence, song credits, and even a successful podcast and online platform for writers called, Permission to Write. What advice would you give people looking to find a good work-life balance and jumpstart their writing career?
A: I would say prioritize your writing. Too often I hear writers say, “I never can find the time,” and most often it’s because they are trying to fit it in where they can. So much of my initial draft for Good Morning, Love came together in 30-minute sprints before I started my workday. When writing is my very first thing, I feel so much better about taking on a busy and full day. I can always say to myself, “at least I’ve written.” So, prioritize and protect your writing time.
II:Do you have any other projects you’re working on that readers can look forward to?
A: I’m pretty excited about a forthcoming short story called “Breakfast for Dinner” that will be featured in the Heartbeat newsletter, free, weekly short stories celebrating love curated by Hannah Orenstein and Georgia Clark. And of course, I am always just writing! So, there are many more stories where Good Morning, Love came from.
II: Thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Coleman! I’ll be looking forward to your short story, “Breakfast for Dinner!”
Have you all picked up your copy of Good Morning, Love?
About the Author
Ashley M. Coleman
Ashley M. Coleman is a storyteller and community builder moonlighting as a writer and project manager. Whether she is working with music makers or writers from marginalized communities, creating safe gathering spaces and education for creatives is at the center of her world. Her freelance writing has been featured in ZORA Magazine, GRAMMY.com, and The Cut among others and covers culture, lifestyle, and personal narrative. Currently, she is working on her forthcoming novel with 37Ink Books, Good Morning Love. You can catch her co-hosting the EightyTwo NinetySix podcast with Gabrielle Hickmon, tweeting often, indulging in Hip Hop and R&B music, and laughing at her pit/boxer mix Coltrane.
USA Today bestselling author K.M. Jackson delivers a hilarious road-trip rom-com perfect for fans of Meet Cute and When Harry Met Sally. Bethany Lu Carlisle is devastated when the tabloids report actor Keanu Reeves is about to tie the knot. What?! How could the world’s perfect boyfriend and forever bachelor, Keanu not realize that making a move like this could potentially be devastating to the equilibrium of…well…everything! Not to mention, he’s never come face to face with the person who could potentially be his true soulmate—her.
Desperate to convince Keanu to call off the wedding, Lu and her ride-or-die BFF Truman Erikson take a wild road trip to search for the elusive Keanu so that Lu can fulfill her dream of meeting her forever crush and confess her undying love. From New York to Los Angeles, Lu and True get into all sorts of sticky situations. Will Lu be able to find Keanu and convince him she’s the one for him? Or maybe she’ll discover true love has been by her side all along…
The Interview
Mrs. Jackson, I appreciate you speaking to me about your novel, How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days!
Your novel had me laughing out loud at the adventures you sent Bethany “Lu” Carlisle on in pursuit of the one and only Keanu Reeves.
Adira: How did you come up with the idea for How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days, and how did you decide who to include in your star-studded cast?
What’s your favorite Keanu Reeves’ movie?
K.M. Jackson: Thank you so much for taking the time to interview me and read HOW TO MARRY KEANU! I came up with the idea of HOW TO MARRY KEANY REEVES IN 90 DAYS after seeing a tweet pre-pandemic that said the next Matrix and John Wick movies were set to come out on the same day (it has since changed due to the pandemic). I replied to the tweet saying, “Note to self don’t put out your next novel on Keanu day unless it’s that How To Marry Keanu Reeves In 90 Day’s Romance.” I got quite a lot of responses that said, “I’d read that,’ and from there a book was born.
A: What I appreciate about your female characters, Bethany Lu and Dawn, is that they don’t have life all figured out even at 40-years-old. You make it clear that they are still making mistakes, wrestling with imposter syndrome, and trying to decipher life when society tries to sell us all the message that you should have it all “together” by their age. What made you want to tackle this angle of “growing up” with your characters’ backstories?
KMJ: I felt strongly about wanting to make my heroine for this story over 40 and I wanted very much to make her feel real. To be honest I have gotten some feedback from some readers that she comes off as young because of the premise of the book and her obsession with Keanu, and the fact that she doesn’t have things all figured out at her age, to that I’d challenge folks to really look at themselves or the world around them honestly and ask who does have it all figured out?
I know I sure don’t. I’m older than both by characters, Lu and Dawn, and a mother and I am pretty hard on myself for not having all the answers. I often wonder and am frustrated by why I don’t have it all figured out by now. But I’m trying hard to give myself a bit more patience and grace.
A: Found or “chosen” family is a major part of your novel, thanks to Bethany Lu’s reliance on her best friends, Dawn and True, to help her with everything from her creative blocks to taking care of her mental health. Were you working from a specific definition of community when you developed these characters, and if so, how did it inform the development of your cast of characters?
KMJ: I wasn’t working from any specific definition of community when I came up with Lu’s friends but more from the friends that I felt would be the best support for her character and the story to make it what I felt it needed to be to be a romance that I would be satisfied with. Both True and Dawn are people I would be happy to know, share time with and most of all trust.
A: In the last year, we’ve all had to cope with one form of loss or another, and Bethany Lu’s choice of coping mechanism while entertaining to read touches on how traumatic and stagnant working through grief can make us. Why was it essential to show Bethany Lu working through the stages of her grief in How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days?
KMJ: Bethany Lu and in a way True working through their grief in HOW TO MARRY KEAU was essential for me because there needed to be something really strong to give Lu her initial Keanu hold and a major motivation to carry the story through. Also dealing with grief and loss was something that was heavy on my heart by the nature of when I was writing the novel. There was just no way I could get away from it so better for me to just lean in.
A: Bethany Lu’s character is dealing with a hot button topic that has come up a lot over the last year thanks to society’s reliance on social media and influencers to get us through the pandemic, which is the issue of parasocial relationships.
Bethany Lu’s plot to stop Keanu’s wedding to distract herself from her own troubles is something that many readers may find to be super relatable. Was there a particular message you were aiming to give readers about how we interact with celebrities and influencers online?
KMJ: Though Bethany’s obsession with Keanu does hold her up in some ways it’s also in ways a healthy coping mechanism. She’s still gone on with her life and has had quite a bit of success. Keanu has been her happy place and a bright and stable spot when things were not so bright and quite shaky. As for the interaction with Keanu, well thankfully there is True and Dawn to help her with keeping a watch on that. Though Lu is a smart woman she knows she really doesn’t stand a chance to get Keanu to marry her and she states this throughout the book. I was careful not to let her cross the line into stalker territory and keep her in the fan zone. I hope I did.
A: How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days was basically made to be adapted for film or tv! Are there any adaptions in the works? Or, are you working on something else that can tide us over until Hollywood comes a calling?
KMJ: Thank you so much for saying that about TV or film adaptations. I sure hope so. *cut to me saying a quick prayer and mentally crossing everything* No, so far adaptations are not in the works but who knows. And thank you for asking, I am always working on something. The next book in my REAL MEN KNIT series under my Kwana Jackson name comes out in July of 2022 and I’m currently thinking up what I’ll be writing next. I have a few ideas in mind. It’s been such a pleasure chatting with you!
About the Author
A native New Yorker, Kwana Jackson, who also writes as K.M. Jackson Jackson spent her formative years on the ‘A’ train where she had two dreams: 1) to be a fashion designer and 2) to be a writer. After spending over ten years designing women’s sportswear for various fashion houses this self-proclaimed former fashionista, took the leap of faith and decided to pursue her other dream of being a writer.
K.M. Jackson
Now a USA Today Bestseller Kwana’s self-published novel, BOUNCE won the Golden Leaf for best novel with strong romance elements from the New Jersey chapter of Romance Writers of America. She was also named Author of the Year by the New York Chapter of Romance Writers of America and has been tapped by Oprah Magazine, ShondaLand and NPR for their Best Romance lists.
A mother of now young adult twins, Kwana currently lives in a suburb of New York with her husband.
Happy Wednesday, bookish peeps! It’s been a while, but I hope your new year is treating you kindly!
Fasting with my church, school, and a new job has kept me busy since the start of the year. But I’m back with a wrap up for my top reads of January and a “must read” throwback review from December.
So, pull up a chair and grab your snacks as I share my first check-in for 2022 on this WWW Wednesday!
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words and ask readers to answer the following questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
I have deemed 2022 my year of “rereads.”
For January, I started rereading Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series and then moved on to one of my favorite “coming of age” books from high school called Big Girls Don’t Cry by Connie Briscoe.
Meyer’s books have been a slight disappointment in my reread. However, I did find that reading the books in audiobook format helped bring Meyer’s characters alive more. Rebecca Soler is the audionarrator for the Lunar Chronicles series, and she does a phenomenal job with accents and distinguishing the characters’ voices from each other. Soler’s narration also helped drive home how close Meyer’s books are to the original Grimm fairytales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Cap), Snow White (Little Snow White), and Sleeping Beauty (Little Briar Rose).
Honestly, if it weren’t for Soler’s performance, I probably would’ve tabled my reread of Meyer’s series by now. With Soler’s narration, though, things that irked me in my original review were made less egregious (e.g., Scarlet and Wolf’s love story). Unfortunately, Meyer’s series is still trope heavy in this second reading and has a firm spot in my “started with a bang and ended in a whimper” book pile. If you’re not a hardcore YA lover or into fairytale retellings, you may want to pass this series up.
Thankfully, Big Girls Don’t Cry by Connie Briscoe was a reread that I enjoyed. Briscoe covers Black girlhood in all its imperfect and confusing glory through the story of Naomi Jefferson, who is growing up during the ‘60s. Readers get to see Naomi struggle with growing pains along with seeing how her character is impacted by the death of Martin Luther King Jr., colorism, heartbreak, gender discrimination in the workplace, and the loss of a loved one as she grows into adulthood.
For lovers of Black urban cult classics, such as Flyy Girlby Omar Tyree and The Coldest Winter Ever by Sista Souljah, you’ll enjoy getting to know Naomi. I was happy to see that my rereading of Briscoe’s held against time. Briscoe places a lot of focus on Naomi’s career ambitions and gives space for readers to see Naomi fail and work through her reservations with working in corporate America and being “Black in America.” The only thing I would change is the development of Naomi’s love interests. If you enjoy stories built around character development and that have a slow burn romance, this is the book for you!
For my new reads, I got a chance to receive an ARC in November for How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days by K.M. Jackson, and I’d recommend this book if you enjoy the “friends-to-lovers” romance trope.
Jackson follows Bethany Lu Carlisle, Keanu Reeves’ superfan, as she receives the news that her long-time celebrity crush is engaged. For Bethany Lu, this is horrible news and is the last straw in a series of unfortunate events that cause her to struggle with the pressures of being an independent artist. Leaning on her friend, Truman “True” Erikson, for understanding, Bethany Lu sets out to win Keanu’s affection on a wacky road trip that has the sole purpose of getting Keanu to reconsider hanging up his bachelorhood for good.
How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days is perfect for anyone looking for a sweet romance or comfort read. Jackson shows an honest portrayal of a 35+ Black woman who doesn’t have it all figured out and is coping with mental health issues. The author does an excellent job of holding space for her character to fall apart and gives her the grace lean into her support system when she needs it. This departure from society’s belief that you have to have it all “figured out” by your 20s is refreshing. And the steamy romance between friends isn’t too bad either.
I’d highly recommend this book for any reader who’s into romance and books that have a “quest” element.
What are you currently reading?
January also saw me delve back into the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. This time around, I have been focusing on the graphic novels and short stories in theTales From the Follyanthology that goes along with Aaronovitch’s novels. The graphic novel collections add context to what happens to Peter and the gang in between the novels, while the short stories act as “snapshots” in the characters’ lives.
I’m partial to the graphic novels over the books, though. In these graphic novels, the author goes into fuller details about The Nightingale and the wizards he worked with before the Rivers of London series officially started. Readers also get to see what Molly gets up to while Peter and The Nightingale are off fighting the bad guys in these books, which involves pastimes are different from what I’d imagined. If you think Aaronovitch’s series is hilarious in his full-length books, you’ll love reading his graphic novels.
I am also working my way through The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. One of my classmates recommended this book, and I’m happy I picked it up even though it’s super sad.
Hannah’s book follows Elsa Martinelli as she and her family battle through life in the American Great Plains during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Reading about how Elsa fights off her insecurities and the constant struggle to make a life for her children is painful. I’m about 70% through The Four Winds and am enjoying it, but I took a break to pick up a lighter read at the end of January.
What will you read next?
As a mood reader, I don’t know what I’ll be reading next. Do you have any recommendations?
If you enjoyed this post, I’d love it if you like, comment, and subscribe. #AllOfTheThings
School has had me in a chokehold these last few weeks, but I’m back with one of the juiciest books reviews I’ve read all year as a part of this week’s reading check-in for WWW Wednesday.
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words and ask readers to answer the following questions:
What did you read last?
What are you currently reading?
What will you read next?
What did you read last?
If you’re following me on Twitter, you may remember my play-by-play reading marathon for the masterpiece that is His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie.
Dr. Medie has written an enthralling story about a young couple, Afi and Eli, as they try to dodge their meddling families and the pressures that come from following Ghanaian traditions to find footing in their marriage.
Oh! And there’s the troublesome hurdle of another woman who Afi, our narrator, must “get rid of” to find her happily ever after. No biggie, though…or so she thinks.
Dr. Medie’s story is gripping from the first sentence when the reader finds out that Afi is set to marry Eli with his brother standing in for him since Eli is on a business trip and can’t make it to the wedding.
Do you see the problem yet?
What drew me to His Only Wife is how well Dr. Medie situates readers inside Afi and Eli’s relationship. Her writing places characters into situations that feel like a stretch logically. Yet, they are so well-written that even when the reader knows better, you get sucked into wanting and believing for what the characters wish too, because the author is that good at stirring up the drama of her characters’ lives.
For instance, even from the first page in His Only Wife, when Eli doesn’t show at the wedding, I was standing in faith alongside Afi and believing what Eli’s family and her mother were selling Afi about the “other woman.” And I’m sure anyone reading this review can already tell how wild this line of reasoning would be in real life.
But, the way Dr. Medie structures her story really takes hold while you are reading this book. To the point, you will believe this farce about the “other woman” having such a hold on Eli that can only be broken once he falls in love with Afi until you close the book and it hits you how crazy this plan was from the beginning.
His Only Wife has a little something for everyone in it. From a slow burn relationship to insights about how familial and romantic relationships work in Ghanaian culture from a rural and urban perspective and across generations as Afi gains advice about her and Eli’s relationship from various women in her life’s perspective. I especially enjoyed learning more about these parts of Dr. Medie’s book from her in my interview, which you can check out here.
Dr. Medie’s book is one I can’t recommend enough for its dynamic characters, in-depth critique of the Ghanaian cultural and women’s roles in it, and just for being an excellent book to read and react to.
As cliched as it sounds, I enjoyed having the feeling of “discussion” around His Only Wife and not being able to guess what would happen next as I read. Even with how predictable the “other woman” trope may seem in the beginning, I couldn’t have predicted exactly how Afi and Eli’s love story would play out. Getting to live-tweet my reaction and discuss my thoughts with a group was probably my favorite thing about this book.
You’ll definitely want this book as your next book club read!
What are you currently reading?
Thanks to school, I’m still holding off reading the last 10% of The Love Songs of W. E. B DuBois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. Jeffers book has taken me through it in every way possible. And oddly enough, I don’t want it to be over just yet. So, I’m still reading it.
I’ve also slowly but surely been making my way through The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I’m now on book four, which is Broken Homes. Peter Grant is quickly becoming one of my favorite literary characters for his wit, perspective, and ability to almost always end up at the short end of the stick of magic wielders.
My one issue with Aaronovitcth’s books is over time, it can become increasingly hard to separate the pro-police stance of the book and jokes Peter cracks about how coppers work inside with how vicious actual police tactics’ abroad can be. There are moments where Peter mentions how in the “old days,” a cop would go and “rough” a suspect up just because he could. These insights feel tone-deaf and wonky.
I say this because even though Peter is a man of mixed heritage and a cop, it’s clear this is Aaronovitch using Peter as a mouthpiece to say these things instead of it being a case where Peter is just being Peter. Since Peter will follow these moments up acknowledging that cops don’t like Black men who look like him (which is highlighted in a racially charged scene in the first book with a superior).
Don’t get me wrong, I love the stories atmosphere and the banter in the books. But, I do have moments when the story and backstories all feel a bit choppy.
On a lighter note, I’m currently reading The Checklist by Addie Woolridge. Woolridge’s story follows a “girl next door” type of romance about Dylan Delacroix, who temporarily moves back home to Seattle to help an eccentric tech CEO fix his flailing company. While she’s home, she finds sparks flying with Mike, the sun of her Bohemian family’s buttoned-up neighborhood rivals. I have laughed so hard at the characters in this book and their shenanigans.
If you’re looking for a palette cleanser after a heavy read, pick this one up! It’s free on Kindle Unlimited.
What will you read next?
As a mood reader, I don’t know what I’ll be reading next.
I have talked about a few of my top priorities on my TBR List in the previous post. So, check them out down below!
What are you reading now?
If you enjoyed this post, I’d love it if you like, comment, and subscribe. #AllOfTheThings
Introvert interrupted 