The Bookbabe Read-a-Thon has begun

In honor of my Grandmother, Alice Marie, I am participating in the Alzheimer Associations Longest Day Fundraiser. The Longest Day of the year is on June 21st, and on this day I pledged to read has many books as possible. And raise money while doing it. So far I’ve only raised 60$ but my friend and fellow Booklover Staci has raises over 200$. Of course, we were under our 550$ goal but any amount for the association is helpful. There will also be more time opportunties to raise money in the coming months.

First Impressions: A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers

A lineage of Grace is a collection of stories based on five famous women of the bible; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. I’ve owned this anthology for a number of years. And I felt that it was finally time to read it. Honestly I was in the mood for something uplifting and God and female centered. However, the first story Unveiled, which is about Tamar - a 14 year old girl married off into a traumatic family situation. She is abused and used and continously hurt by her husband and his family. The entire time Tamar must rise above, by loyal and remember she is to be a child bearer. The story is violent and at times hard to read; while this was most likely the pilight of the women of the time It is still hard to read. I get what Rivers was trying to do here. However, the womanist in me....Really finds the narrative of this story a tad dangerous.
Tamar by no fault of her own is forced to play a harlot in order to have a wrong righted. She must take abuse and remain loyal. The story, from my point of view, could lead some women to believe that abuse is okay in a marriage. And that one most look beyond it and remain loyal. Its troublesome. I hope the other stories in the book are better. If I had to rate it today I would most likely give it a 3 out of 5 stars - just based on the narration.

Here is the synopsis (amazon) for the first story in the book:

Her name meant "date palm," and like her namesake, Tamar hoped to survive the harsh environment she was placed in: to bend but not to break. Rubbed with scented oil and arrayed in wedding finery, 14-year-old Tamar is thrust into a world of abuse, betrayal, and disillusionment when she is given in marriage to an evil, idol-worshiping man. In the face of her suffering, she must make choices: Will she let her new husband, Er, destroy her innocence and corrupt her? Will she leave the religion of the Canaanites and embrace the God of the Hebrews despite the life of misery she is cast into? Or will she fall into despair and become as wicked as her husband and his brothers?

Guillermo Del Toro and his Creatures

I just wanted to do a quick article featuring Del Toro’s Creatures. His Imagination is astounding. As a lover of horror and gothic art I am drawn to his dark tales. He would be someone I’d love to have a conversation with.

The creature with the eyeballs in his hand gave me nightmares; and if you’ve ever seen the movie then you will know how creept he was. The actors body movements were just unsettling.

Here is the trailer:

The Shape of Water:

Here is the trailer:

I really can not wait to see the later so that I can compare it to the book. Also, I would love to see the costume for the creature upclose. It reminds me of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

My Thoughts on “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People” by Reni Eddo - Lodge

It’s hard sometimes to talk about race. I am a 33 year old African American woman, who while privileged in some ways, also knows the limitations put on me because of my race. My race was no choice of my own but my race and my gender combined can be used against me in a way that sometimes no one other than an African American woman might be able to understand. So when I heard about Reni Eddo - Lodge’s “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race” I felt like at this moment in time I needed to read this book. I needed to read the experiences of another woman of color; and one who lives across the pond. Lodge uses this book to address everything from the history of migration and the slave trade to feminism and class. She even discusses entertainment; highlighting the casting of Norma Dumezweni as Hermonie in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
I came to this book expecting to learn that racism wasn’t as bad across the pond as it often seems in the States. However, I walked away believing that it may actually be worse. If you think people are tone deaf here at home you need to read this book. Some of what I read really shocked me. Of course, I understand that these are Lodge’s opinions, her perceptions. But in there is a nugget of the truth and that makes it all the worse. As I read the book I thought about how as a twenty something I internalized my race and I a kindred spirit in Lodge. I felt like I understood why she wanted to just stop talking about race; the logic for me made sense because some of my experiences had been the same. Particularly when it came to feminism.
Lodge addresses the topic of feminism in a very eyes wide open sort of way. She talks about how she feels feminism ignores and sidelines women of color. She talks about how even white feminist can fail to check their privilege and how that can lead to their refusal to understand problems that directly effect women of color. Or how this privilege leads to something even more troublesome; the white feminist belief that all women are on the same level. The latter is one that I feel like I have to explain over and over again in some of my conversations. Unlike Lodge, I do (and she actually still does) talk about race with white people; however, I have stopped talking about feminism with white women. After the 2016 election and the women’s march I decided to only speak about feminist topics in safe spaces. Lodge reminded me in her book that this attitude is not useful. And that my voice is needed the most because silence is desired and expected. Lodges book is a road map to understanding and an example on how and how not to have conversations on controversial topics.

I would recommend “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race” to anyone that feels ready to give up on the conversations that matter. As well as to anyone that needs some fresh perspective. I gave it 5/5 stars on goodreads.

Here are some of the quotes that resonated with me:

Look What Finally Showed Up?

Tomi Adeyemi‘s best selling book finally made it to my front door. I ordered it over two weeks ago, but I am guessing that it just to longer than normal for Book Depostiory to process the order for the book. It is a hot little tome right now! I am super excited to dive into it next weekend ♥️.

Here is some info about the book:
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for an enemy.

You can find out more about the author at :
http://www.tomiadeyemi.com

New Book on the way

Book Despository sent me a 10% code for my wish list; so I went strolling and decided to pick up the one book that would be most important to my current reading lists. “At the end of the street” has been on my To Buy List for over a year. I’ve heard great things about this book and I am so eager to read it.
Especially, because Recy Taylor’s story is included in this book. Ms. Taylor was raped during the Jim Crow era and took on her attackers. The attackers never saw the inside of a court room and Ms. Taylor died earlier this year never having experienced justice. Her is a synopsis of the book:

Rosa Parks was often described as a sweet and reticent elderly woman whose tired feet caused her to defy segregation on Montgomery’s city buses, and whose supposedly solitary, spontaneous act sparked the 1955 bus boycott that gave birth to the civil rights movement. The truth of who Rosa Parks was and what really lay beneath the 1955 boycott is far different from anything previously written.

In this groundbreaking and important book, Danielle McGuire writes about the rape in 1944 of a twenty-four-year-old mother and sharecropper, Recy Taylor, who strolled toward home after an evening of singing and praying at the Rock Hill Holiness Church in Abbeville, Alabama. Seven white men, armed with knives and shotguns, ordered the young woman into their green Chevrolet, raped her, and left her for dead. The president of the local NAACP branch office sent his best investigator and organizer--Rosa Parks--to Abbeville. In taking on this case, Parks launched a movement that exposed a ritualized history of sexual assault against black women and added fire to the growing call for change (amazon.com).

Stand Back....Another Woke Title To Buy!

Synopsis: A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America―and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.

Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin.

Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering in equality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country―and the world―that Black Lives Matter.

When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable.

Why I can’t wait to read it:
So often Black narratives never see the light of day; especially books about people like Patrisse. Often their stories are told by others, and usually after they have transended this life. I really can’t wait to pick up this book.

Michelle Obama did what?

The former First Lady announced that her memoir, Becoming Michelle, will be released the coming fall.

Let me tell you I am ecstatic about this. Michelle Obama is a real inspiration for me. I really can not wait to read her reflections on being the first African American First Lady; there are so many things I hope this book will answer. Including but not limited to her feelings on what it felt to
be “the first”. And how race relations effected her and how she continued to stay above the fray.

Her memoir is already set for me to pre-order right after vacation. I can not wait to read it.

To Be a Knitter: The Book Babe reviews The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacob

To be a knitter? According to Darwin; a character in a Kate Jacob’s The Friday Night Knitting club, knitting is as anti-feminist as you can get. It’s old fashioned and way...way...not cool. Which is probably I am such a fan of the practice. In Jacob’s novel we follow the lives of Georgia and Dakota Walker as well as all the characters that make up Georgia’s Tribe. Their yarn shop, Walker and Daughter is just one little place in the sprawling city of New York. The yarn shop has more than just pretty skeins of yarn, and lovely needles. It is also a place for women to come together to talk about their lives and relax and be themselves. Originally the shop was just a shop until Dakota came up with the idea of sharing her delicious home made baked goods with some of the women that always seemed to come into the shop on Friday nights.
With the help of Anita, Georgia’s close friend/benefactor and mother figure, Dakota convinces her mother to start the Friday Night Knitting Club. The club consists of a television producer (Lucie), doctoral student (Darwin), part-time employee and hand bag designer (Peri) and book editor (K.C.). Each of these women come to the group with their own set of issues. Lucie is single, and ready to start a new chapter in her life. So she decides to have a baby - without a father in the picture. Anita, is a woman in her seventies, who is trying to find herself after the death of her husband. Darwin, is the most perplexing character of all, she’s a women’s studies major working on her doctoral thesis. She is trying to understand what it means to be a woman in todays day and age. Peri, is a young woman who is trying to make it in New York. K.C., is the character I most related to, she is in her prime - and suddenly decides to change careers. Also, she is a really horrible knitter. Then we have the non-knitting characters just thrown in....Catherine, Georgia’s high school best friend , who betrayed her years earlier and seems to be looking something. Then there is James, Dakota’s father and Georgia’s ex, he abandoned them around the time Georgia found out she was pregnant. He is back in the city and wants to smooth things over with Georgia and wants to finally get to know his daughter.
This book is a real character study in the complexity of women’s lives. From Catherine’s need to deal with being the trophy wife to a man with to much money and who can’t keep his penis to himself. To Darwin, struggling with a miscarriage and cheating of her husband. And then there is Georgia, trying to balance running a business, being a single mom and deal with her feelings for James. Each woman within this book is someone that you can see in yourself and that is the beauty of the novel. Their complexity makes them extremely relatable. Jacob was also able to carry out a storyline faux pas that could make a reader scream; especially at the beginning of a series. However, this book was so good I am willing to come back for the second book, Knit Two.

Favorite Character : Darwin - she is so ME. She is brainy and awkward, but so endearing. Her friendship with Lucie was charming and made me long to go beg being bestie to have a baby.
Favorite Scene: The Scene between Dakota and her Great Grandmother; it made me cry. And It reminded me of the power of a grandmother’s presence and love.

Oh and another thing to love....all that knitting. Plus the print book has a pattern for a scarf and a recipe for muffins. So you get a sweet and a craft. It’s really a win win.

I gave the audiobook five out of five stars on Goodreads.

My favorite Quotes:

Happy Belated Birthday, Toni Morrison.
Nobel Laureate and author of Beloved, The Bluest Eye and Tar Baby.

Quotes from the mind and works of Toni Morrison:

First Impressions are everything: Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reno Eddo-Lodge

This book is on fire. Now I see why its gotten such great reviews. In Why I’m no Longer talking to White People about Race is a powerful look at Race in the United Kingdom. It covers history of not only violence but how black and brown people came to be in the UK. The books touches on colonalism and the lies often told to those being colonalized to get them on the side of their oppressers. The best example of this is Lodge’s toughing on the history and treatment Indian soliders that came to fight for the British in the hopes on the promise that the British would vacate their country. These men can to Britian to fight in World War 1 only to be ill treated and segerated and then lied to. The Treatment of West Indies was no better.

The book also touches on slavery; what really caught me off guard in the examination of this subject is that I never thought of slavery as a British Institution. I’ve always thought of it as a distinctly American enterprise. However, Slavery was big business in Britian and there where several slave ports throughout the country. Lodge points out that slavery was treated as a bit of an after thought. Brits could profit from it without ever having to directly witness its bruality.

Right now I am reading my way through the second chapter; which exams the criminal justice system in Britain. I can say that the system in the UK is not all that different from the one in America. And God knows thats depressing as hell on so many levels.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a book I am just not going to be able to stop recommending.

Well....I was just not impressed!

Well....
I didn’t like it. There where. Lot of reasons why I didn’t like Fifty Shades Freed but the main one is that it just fell flat. And I mean it dead panned for me. There was the sex...and all that; which is great but a majority of the honeymoon and all the self discovery they have as a couple just didnt happen. And then Mia....I mean she was pretty much ignored; just a person in the background. It was down right annoying. The biggest no no for me. The hospital scene. It reminded me of why I disliked Ana in the end. And after reading Darker I can definitely say this movie just fell flat. It did nothing for me and I can definitely see why the movie got bad reviews. It lacked a good plot and it just seemed rushed and badly put together. I do plan to see it again with another group of women and we’ll see if my views change by then. But right now....I am just not a fan.

Best thing about the movie:

Jamie’s beard....♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️! Yummy.

Mr. Grey will see you now....Part 2! The Bookbabe reviews Darker by E.L. James

Well....well...well... I almost feel like we have been here before. Another E.L. James book, another book about the lovable and deeply flawed Christian Grey. Like so many other readers I’ve already read the first three original novels and then James first book from Christian’s perspective. So when Darker was released In December I could not resist taking Christian home with me again. And I must say out of all of the books I really enjoyed this one the most. Fifty Shades Darker (Ana’s perspective) while good was a bit annoying. All that “inner goddess’ stuff etc. Ana was one of the most annoying female characters I have read in the romance genre. Christian was the main attraction. So reading this book, written in his POV is definitely awesome. There was a lot more detail here. A lot of questions that were somewhat left out of Ana’s version are answered. We get to see Christian grow and overcome his fears. We also get more details about his childhood and his relationship with Elena. I think that romance novels written from the male perspective might be more interesting. I actually discovered this while reading J.R. Ward’s novels; such as The Bourbon King’s and The Blackdagger Brotherhood series.
In Darker, we might up with Christian Right after Ana has left him. Christian is feeling, for the first time, what its like to have a broken heart. He wants to do anything he can to get Ana back. And he does..slowly. Ana, in this book, comes off as strong and confident. She knows she is not going to put up with Christian’s secretive nonsense and she tells him so. In order for them to move forward he has to allow her in. The beauty of this book is that Christian sets aside so much of himself to allow her in. He allows her to inch closer to him personally. From what we know of Ana this slow crawl is frustrating but she is willing to go the distance. James really excelled at the self discovery journey that Christian went through in Darker.
Of course in the book we are introduced to all of the other characters but we get to see them again from Christian’s perspective. Finally get a better picture of the love those around him have for him. Sadly, for most of the book Christian is down right oblivious to it. Another thing I Loved about this book....was while there was sex, and some of it was graphic. The sex is not as over the top as some of the other stuff in James previous works. The book has some steamy scenes but It’s definitely more action, and more character development. I think Darker is the second best book I’ve read so far this year. I can not wait to see what she does with 50 Shades Freed. I gave Darker 4/5 stars on goodreads.

My favorite scene from the book:

The Scene where Christian allows Ana to touch him was powerful to me. Its a real turning point for him I believe; right now there is no going back. He is baring his soul to the only person able to really hurt him.

Below are some of the quotes I loved:

The new Harry Potter Game is almost here....

You can pre-register here ! http://www.harrypotterhogwartsmystery.com

One Sit Reads: My review of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The past few weeks were hell for me. So I needed something light hearted and simple to read; so I returned to a world that I knew would give me the comfort I needed...Narnia. I was introduced to The Chronicles of Narnia when I was in the fifth grade. It was one of those books that sparked my imagination as a child. When I was embarking on my college career The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe came to the big screen. And I was immediately disappointed. I felt like the movie had failed to capture the magic of the words Lewis had written so long ago. For the past few years I have wanted to return to Lewis stories and experience it with an adult eye. So that’s what I started last week.
In the Magician’s Nephew we are introduced to Digory and Polly; two average, adventure seeking children. One of these adventures leads them into Digory’s Uncle Andrew’s study. While in the study Andrew makes Polly vanish and forces Digory to go after her. It seems that Uncle Andrew is a magician and has discovered a way to travel between worlds. While Digory and Polly are gone they happen upon Queen Jadis; a terrifying, self serving and very destructive ruler. While trying to escape her and get back home to London they end up bringing her along. That is when all hell breaks loose. Jadis causes a bunch of craziness on the streets of London; it becomes clear that the children have to get her back to the world she came from. So they use the magic that Andrew invented to bring not only Jadis and themselves back but Andrew, Frank (a carriage driver) and his horse. The group ends up in Narnia at the moment that Aslan is singing the world into being. They watch as Aslan creates Narnia from nothing. Flowers, trees, mountains and animals come into being. Aslan grants a few of these animals the ability to speak. And sets the rules for how they must live. In fact, he even adds another person to the mix - Helen (Frank’s wife); and installs them as the first Queen and King of Narnia. Narnia seems perfect, however, there is an issue - Queen Jadis. She is on the loose in Aslan’s beautiful world; she is evil to the core and Narnia must be protected from her. Since it is Digory’s fault that Jadis was bought into Narnia Aslan sends him on a mission (with the assistance of Polly) to bring back the fruit of a magical tree. The fruit of this tree will help protect Narnia from Jadis for centuries. Once his mission is complete Digory is rewarded by Aslan and sent home (along with Polly and Andrew).
At the heart of this story is friendship, love, magic and faith. As many of you may know C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian and wrote the Chronicles as a way to explain the gospel to his God daughter. The Christian themes in the story are more evident to me now then they were to me as a child. I found myself smiling as I read about Aslan creating the world. It was as perfect an analogy as you can get to the creation story in the book of Genesis. And from a child’s perspective its probably a lot easier to understand. Of course, Aslan is God/Christ; and the choice of him as a Lion is symbolic as well; for God is described as a Lion in the biblical book of Hosea. Aslan is an animal that the children should be scared of but they are also drawn to him. They see a fierce gentleness in him. And when at one point Digory expresses sorrow over his mothers illness you see that Aslan knows his pain well; which reminds me of the compassion of Christ. Queen Jadis is an example of evil in the world. I took her to be a representative of sin and being unrepentant. She is selfish and self serving at her core. She cares about nothing and no one. Her ways will be her undoing.
Lewis storytelling is simplistic and magical. It’s an easy, one sit read. And anyone that says they don’t like Narnia needs their head examined. These stories are just that good. I have decided to read one book a month from the series until I have finished the entire thing. I gave The Magician’s Nephew 5/5 stars on goodreads.

The Bookbabe Reviews To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I have seen the movie at least once and for what ever odd reason I was never really compelled to read the book; even though I had owned a tattered second hand copy for a number of years. I began my journey with this book with only a baseline knowledge of what the book would hold within its pages. To my surprise the book made me long for the simpler times of Childhood. Were I was able to live a carefree and easy life. To Kill a Mockingbird is very much a story of growing as it is an indictment of an America long since dead and buried. An American, that even today, some in our society would like nothing more than to go back to.

In Lee’s American classic we meet a young girl nicknamed Scout and her older brother Jem and their father Atticus. The Finch’s live in the small southern town of Macomb. Scout and Jem are your typical children - they tease one another, get into as much trouble as possible and live for soft summer breezes and cool lemonade. They do however, have an aching desire to see Arthur “Boo” Radley come out of his house - and the children spend summer after summer (with the help of their friend Dill) attempting to get a glimpse at old Boo Radley.

The children have never had much trouble in life, things are pretty good for them. Until there begins to be some grumbling amongst the town folks about Atticus defending a black man (Tom Robinson) who has been bought up on rape charges. Tom is accused the worst offense imaginable - forcing himself on a white woman. The children are immediately thrust into their fathers business. Even though Atticus tries to instill in them the importance of turning the other cheek and being the bigger person. It’s hardest for Scout to heed her fathers edict and walk away when children at her school call her and her father “nigger lovers”. Some how she does, and so does Jem (for the most part).

The trial on Tom Robinson I believe was a turning point for both of the children. It was as they stood in that court room watching their father defend a man, trying to save a mans life that I believe a part of their innocence was lost. It was at that moment and at that time that the Children really saw that the world wasn’t fair. They were taught a tough and life changing lesson. This moment was heart wrenching and the trial scenes made me angry and also tearful. As a person of color, I wanted Lee to write a different ending. I wanted to believe that with Atticus at the helm of Tom Robinson’s defense that the evident truth would win the day. But, I was wrong. And Atticus lost. And the latter end of the book left me teary eyed and as I said before wanting to go back to a simpler time. When I was a child and the truth and complexities about race, culture, and class were unknown to me.

The beauty of this book is the difficulty of the subject matter. Harper Lee portrayed the attitudes of southern whites with ease because she was one. She also handled with care the need of social change and justice. She showed the reader that not all whites were racist and that some would do their best to treat their fellow man with respect and dignity - right to the end. It’s easy to see why Atticus is a beloved character in literary circles. He along with Scout are perhaps my favorite characters I’ve read in the past few months. With that being said

I am so very happy to have finally picked up this book; and I am very proud to call it my first completed read of the new year. I can’t wait to snuggle up in my bedroom with a nice mug of tea and rewatch the classic film. I gave to Kill a Mockingbird 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Quotes I Loved:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read.”

“People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.”

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

The Hit List: Books I Plan to read this year!

My Reading Goal: 80 Books
My Hit List
Young Adult:
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake
Kalona’s Fall by P.C. and Kristin Cast
King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard

Classic Literature:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontė
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Emma by Jane Austen
Great Expectations by Charles Dickinson
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Non Fiction:

The Girls of the Murder City by Douglas Perry
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Nigger by Randall Kennedy
I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney
Rest in Power by Sybrina Fulton
We were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World in Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Inspirational Reads:

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
How to here by Rob Bell
What is the Bible by Rob Bell
The Power of I am by Joel Osteen
Sci Fi:
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Romance:

Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Transference by Ava Harrison
You Give Good Love by J.J.Murray
I’ll Be your Everything by J.J. Murray
Darker by E.L. James

General Fiction:

Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Man in the High Castle by Phillip Dick
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Balm by Dolen Perkins - Valdez
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Of course several of these books may fall by the wayside; however, It is my intention to read as many of these as possible. But I also, want to make sure my reading as diverse as possible.

The Books I’d Love from my Wishlist!

1) Wonder Woman: Warbringer

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn't know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

2) The Spy

When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city.

As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men.

But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.

Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, The Spy is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.

3) They Can’t Kill Us All

Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.

In an effort to grasp the magnitude of the repose to Michael Brown's death and understand the scale of the problem police violence represents, Lowery speaks to Brown's family and the families of other victims other victims' families as well as local activists. By posing the question, "What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?" Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs.

Studded with moments of joy, and tragedy, They Can't Kill Us All offers a historically informed look at the standoff between the police and those they are sworn to protect, showing that civil unrest is just one tool of resistance in the broader struggle for justice. As Lowery brings vividly to life, the protests against police killings are also about the black community's long history on the receiving end of perceived and actual acts of injustice and discrimination. They Can't Kill Us All grapples with a persistent if also largely unexamined aspect of the otherwise transformative presidency of Barack Obama: the failure to deliver tangible security and opportunity to those Americans most in need of both.

4) The Color of Law

In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation―that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation―the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments―that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

5) The Mummy

Ramses the Great has reawakened in opulent Edwardian London. Having drunk the elixir of life, he is now Ramses the Damned, doomed forever to wander the earth, desperate to quell hungers that can never be satisfied. He becomes the close companion of a voluptuous heiress, Julie Stratford, but his cursed past again propels him toward disaster. He is tormented by searing memories of his last reawakening, at the behest of Cleopatra, his beloved queen of Egypt. And his intense longing for her, undiminished over the centuries, will force him to commit an act that will place everyone around him in the gravest danger....

6) Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra

Ramses the Great, former pharaoh of Egypt, is reawakened by the elixir of life in Edwardian England. Now immortal with his bride-to-be, he is swept up in a fierce and deadly battle of wills and psyches against the once-great Queen Cleopatra. Ramses has reawakened Cleopatra with the same perilous elixir whose unworldly force brings the dead back to life. But as these ancient rulers defy one another in their quest to understand the powers of the strange elixir, they are haunted by a mysterious presence even older and more powerful than they, a figure drawn forth from the mists of history who possesses spectacular magical potions and tonics eight millennia old. This is a figure who ruled over an ancient kingdom stretching from the once-fertile earth of the Sahara to the far corners of the world, a queen with a supreme knowledge of the deepest origins of the elixir of life. She may be the only one who can make known to Ramses and Cleopatra the key to their immortality—and the secrets of the miraculous, unknowable, endless expanse of the universe.

7) The Simplicity of Cider

Focused and unassuming fifth generation cider-maker Sanna Lund has one desire: to live a simple, quiet life on her family’s apple orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. Although her business is struggling, Sanna remains fiercely devoted to the orchard, despite her brother’s attempts to convince their aging father to sell the land.

Single dad Isaac Banks has spent years trying to shield his son Sebastian from his troubled mother. Fleeing heartbreak at home, Isaac packed up their lives and the two headed out on an adventure, driving across the country. Chance—or fate—led them straight to Sanna’s orchard.

Isaac’s helping hands are much appreciated at the apple farm, even more when Sanna’s father is injured in an accident. As Sanna’s formerly simple life becomes increasingly complicated, she finds solace in unexpected places—friendship with young Sebastian and something more deliciously complex with Isaac—until an outside threat infiltrates the farm.

8) The Witches of New York

New York in the spring of 1880 is a place alive with wonder and curiosity. Determined to learn the truth about the world, its residents enthusiastically engage in both scientific experimentation and spiritualist pursuits. Séances are the entertainment of choice in exclusive social circles, and many enterprising women—some possessed of true intuitive powers, and some gifted with the art of performance—find work as mediums.

Enter Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair. At their humble teashop, Tea and Sympathy, they provide a place for whispered confessions, secret cures, and spiritual assignations for a select society of ladies, who speak the right words and ask the right questions. But the profile of Tea and Sympathy is about to change with the fortuitous arrival of Beatrice Dunn.

When seventeen-year-old Beatrice leaves the safety of her village to answer an ad that reads "Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply," she has little inclination of what the job will demand of her. Beatrice doesn't know it yet, but she is no ordinary small-town girl; she has great spiritual gifts—ones that will serve as her greatest asset and also place her in grave danger. Under the tutelage of Adelaide and Eleanor, Beatrice comes to harness many of her powers, but not even they can prepare her for the evils lurking in the darkest corners of the city or the courage it will take to face them.

9) Knitting Yarns

This is a collection of essays and one poem by well-known authors about the magical powers of knitting. The book also includes six knitting patterns interspersed throughout the book. Because the focus of the text is on the act of knitting and the feelings evoked rather than the finished product, there are no images or diagrams to accompany the knitting projects. Rather, the text invites the reader to curl up with a book or with knitting and be transported to a world of healing, peace, and calm. These are deeply personal stories ranging from true and heartbreaking (Martha Frankel attempting to keep her friend from joining a cult through knitting), to the honest and humorous (finger knitting being even more relaxing than knitting because you can drink your martini while finger knitting).

10) The Rules of Magic

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is a story about the power of love reminding us that the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself.

Here’s to wishing I recieve every book on my list....I really do not want to have to buy these lovelies for myself.

*All synopsis are from amazon.com