Waterstones Piccadilly is ever and always my favourite book shop. It’s housed in a stunning art deco building in Central London and contains eight floors filled with miles of beautiful books. I love the branch not only for the eight floors of awesomeness, but also for its Black Writing section.
1. Her family emigrated from Jamaica to America when she was 11-years-old. Yoon used her experience of being caught between two cultures to flesh out the lives of the characters in her second novel, The Sun is Also a Star. Natasha and Daniel are both children of immigrants. Natasha’s family is facing deportation back to Jamaica when she meets Korean-American, Daniel.
Maybe you need a last-minute dish for a pot luck. Maybe you’re after a show-stopping dessert to impress family and friends over the festive season. Or maybe you just want something to snack on while you’re binge watching Queen Sugar during your Christmas vacation. Whatever the cause, Lorraine Pascale’s recipe for White Chocolate & Cherry Torte with a Creme Fraiche Chantilly is the gift that keeps on giving. It sounds like something off a French menu in a high end restaurant, it looks mouth-wateringly delicious and it is possibly the simplest cake I’ve ever baked. No, really! Watch…
It’s been a tough year. We could all use a break. Gift wrap some joy and escapism for the people you love this Christmas. With 30 book suggestions to choose from, you’ll find there truly is a book for everybody. 1. The Perfect Find – Tia Williams A forty-year-old woman with everything on the line – her high-stakes career, ticking biological clock, bank account – risks it all for a secret romance with a man half her age. 2. From Pasta to Pigfoot: Second Helpings – Frances Mensah Williams Faye Bonsu has it all: a gorgeous boyfriend, a career as an interior designer and a mansion to call home. But with all her friends becoming mothers, a partner in no hurry to propose, tricky clients, and a very attractive and single boss, things are not quite as simple as they appear. She takes a trip to Ghana for some R&R, but life takes an even more complicated turn.
My thoughts on The Mother by Yvvette Edwards.
What are you reading this winter? Here are 8 new titles captured in five word summaries.
What are you reading next? Here are my thoughts on The Perfect Find by Tia Williams.
I’ve seen a number of black reading lists for summer 2016 and I have to say, they feature an overabundance of weepy, traumatic or painfully intellectual recommendations. It doesn’t take a data analyst to find the causal link between the dearth of black genre fiction and the lack of light-hearted (yet clever) summer reads. Here, I’ll draw the correlative line for you. Luckily, my spidey senses are always attuned to the light-read frequency so here are five genre novels for you to enjoy in the sunshine.
I was moseying around the Chapters in downtown Toronto today, just killing time before meeting a friend. It was great to see the variety of black authors on display for Black History Month. The Motorcyclist Carl Black is an intellectual and artist, a traveller, a reader and an unapologetic womanizer. A motorcyclist. He burns for the bohemian life, but is trapped in a railway porter’s prosaic existence. Taking place over one dramatic year in Halifax, Nova Scotia, The Motorcyclist recounts Carl’s travels and romantic exploits as he tours the backroads of the east coast and the bedrooms of a series of beautiful women.
During summer my Twitter feed informed me Shonda Rhimes would be writing a memoir. I made a mental note to get it next year when it was released. I should have known that a woman who successfully juggles three primetime TV shows would be just as efficient about putting together a book. Still, I gave a squeal of delight when my friend waved the hardcover tome at me in the quaint bookshop we had been picking through.
Coffee Bookshelves 