The Book Every Woman of Color should read...My review of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I can not believe that I had not read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings before just a few weeks ago. I understand now why so many women of color have such a special connection with this book. At 32, I consider myself pretty well read. However, never had I read such a book as this one. Maya Angelou's story is deeply personal and some of her life experiences seem so close to my own. I can imagine another brown skinned, awkward young girl running around outside with friends. Enjoying summer church picnics and reading books by Dickens and Bronte. Like Angelou I was raised by my grandmother; who was also a strict woman. But was not very religious. If it had not been for my stepmother and a friend in high school I would not have been introduced to Christianity. (Even though I said prayers daily and could recite The Lord's Prayer). Another thing that Maya and I did not have in common: the surroundings in which we grew up and the era in which we grew up.
Maya Angelou grew up in rural Stamps, Arkansas; a small town, the area that she lived in was segregated and she attended a segregated school. Her upbringing was closer to my own Grandmothers. My gran grew up in a small, one stoplight town in Maryland named Greensboro. I on the other hand...did not have to deal with a segregated school or deal with the challenges of living in a small rural area. (Mind you I don't live in a bustling metro area either.) One of the things about Angelou's book that really resonated with me was the way that she always seemed to be conscious of her blackness. Her "otherness". However, her response to it was different from anyway that I have ever read it described. She was taught to have pride in her color. She saw nothing wrong with being colored. She was not aware that there was really anything different about her. However, "white folks" where different. They behaved, dressed and ate differently then she and her family. This was comical to me and understandable.
I can think back to a time when I was never aware of my difference from anyone else. However, that changed at about age 9 or 10 when I was called the N word by a classmate during summer break. That was the first time I was aware that there was a difference; it was the first time I had to have "the talk" with my grandmother. In this book Angelou has a similar incident with a dentist; while suffering with a toothache her grandmother took her to the only dentist in the area. The man flat out refused to help young Maya; he even went so far as to say he would never put his hands in a dogs mouth than that of a nigger. Of course, Mayas's grandmother will not be disrespected and sends Maya off the porch to wait as she goes into the office to deal with the mans disrespect. The was my favorite scene in the book because Maya, with her childhood imagination, imagines her grandmother as a superhero. Defending her honor and telling that man what's what. Especially since the man was to good to help them but was not to good to come to Maya's grandmother (who owned the general store in Stamps) for a loan. Like Maya, I was always a bit amazed by my grandmother. She was my superhero. Of course, it was not until I was older and wiser that I saw her humanity; however, she will never really come all the way down to my level. She will always be a woman of wisdom in which to learn from - flaws and all.
Angelou's book is one that I hope to return to a few years from now. And a book I hope to share with other young women and even some young men. There is so much in this book that we could all learn from. There is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in this tomes pages.
I gave I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 5/5 stars on goodreads.com

Here are a few quotes that I loved:

"Words mean more that what us set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them wit the shades of deeper meaning."

"The Black woman in the south who raises sons, grandsons and nephews had her heartstrings tied to a hanging noose"

"It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense."

"Sympathy is next to shit in the dictionary, and I can't even read."

"All knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market"

My October 2016 Book of the Month Club

A dazzling debut novel from an exciting new voice, The Mothers is a surprising story about young love, a big secret in a small community—and the things that ultimately haunt us most. Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett’s mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret, “All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.” It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

Moleskin notebooks = Trouble: Bookbabe review of Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Wow just wow. Stephen King really kept the action going with Finders Keepers and tied this book very artfully into the first novel of the Hodges series. This novel is really about obsession; one guys obsession with an author and his work of fiction. Just like the first novel the villain is identified quickly; his motives are identified quickly and we also get the feeling that the guy is way way way off the reservation. Complete nutter. (And won't King have fun with that). The book even opens up with a in your face home invasion and murder. King really held no punches in the beginning and the deep dive into the book was very necessary. 
It takes a while to get to the point where Hodges (now four years older) gets into the story. 
The story revolves mainly around Peter Saubers and his family; whose father is on the survivors of the attack as City Center. At the beginning of this story Saubers and his family have fallen on very tough times. Having to had to move to a low income neighborhood, the kids losing friends; then drowning the debt from medical bills and having to deal with the pain of living off a teachers salary. Peter is hoping for anyway to help his family and it comes; in the form of a trunk buried in an abandon field. 
Of course, we all know that sometimes something good can turn into something very bad very quickly. And this happens just a few years after Peter has found the trunk. You could say that opening that trunk was like opening Pandora's box - Peter had no clue what danger awaited him or what the consequences of his actions would be. What  I loved about this book was the growth and depth of the main character; Peter was well written and fully flushed out. We saw the good in him; along with his selfishness. And it was this selfishness that seemed to link him to the villain. It was his; as well as, the obsession of the villain that could have destroyed them both and for a while I thought that it would.
What's amazing about this book is that our previous villain plays a small role; mostly towards the end of the book - but his reintroduction is sinister and seems to foreshadow that something truly scary is coming in the next installment of the series. I really can not wait to start it. 
I gave Finders Keepers 5/5 stars on goodreads.com.

Quotes that I loved:

"You created one of the greatest characters in American literature, then shit on him...a man who could do that doesn't deserve to live"

"The critical eye should always be cold and clear"

"A good novelist does not lead his characters, he follows them. A good novelist does not create events, he watches them happen and then writes down what he sees. A good novelist realizes he is a secretary, not God"

Just some facts about Jane Austen and her novels!