3littlewordz's reviews
178 reviews

Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Pesos: The Rise and Fall of a Border Family by Pietro La Greca Jr.

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adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

3.75

Pesos by Pietro La Greca Jr was a ROLLERCOASTER, you hear me?! Multi-million dollar fraud, an entire family on the run from the Mexican government, a ruthless cartel, AND Malaysian princes?! This memoir had drama, intrigue, family in-fighting, and old fashioned greed. Picho (La Greca Jr) was torn between the opulence his father's illegal activities funded and his resentment, then hatred for his father. Mix in a 3 month cross-country run from authorities, and you have a blockbuster on your hands! 

The writing style was pretty direct - I wasn't expecting literary genius from this book. The drama was more than enough to keep me invested. I really hoped this is optioned for a movie or limited series. 
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The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help You Deserve by Rheeda Walker

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75

The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health by Dr. Rheeda Walker was my pick for Mental Health Awareness month (in May, though I finished it in June). I think this is great resource for any black person (but especially black women) who have not been exposed to therapy or are opposed to exploring therapy as an option. It is also helpful for anyone that has been struggling and cannot seem to articulate what they've been struggling with. The most helpful chapters for me were 11 and 12, which provided concrete tools to use when you're overwhelmed. Overall, I've previously read about or been exposed to (through therapy) a majority of what was discussed in the book. I also think this is focused on a particular subset of the Black population, particularly the chapter on spirituality. I would definitely recommend to any Black person struggling emotionally that may not be ready to take the leap into therapy. This book might be the push one needs. 
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Another great audiobook recommendation from Black Girls Read Too on Facebook! This book had drama that was portrayed wonderfully by the narrator cast. 

Opal and Nev burned hot and bright very quickly, and fulfilled some of the tropes that we see in real life daily - white man seeming to align with the minority Caste when it helps them, but ignoring their actual plight. Young Black woman is passionate but reckless, and the consequences are always much worse. White thugs not really being held responsible for their actions, and dismissing what trauma they've caused outright. The author wrote about these topics in a way that was direct but didn't drag down the pace of the story. Looking forward to checking out more of her work. 
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Losing My Cool: Love, Literature, and a Black Man's Escape from the Crowd by Thomas Chatterton Williams

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emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

Losing My Cool was the debut novel from Thomas Chatterton Williams, a cultural critic and college professor. I picked this up years ago based on the byline: “How a father’s love and 15,000 books beat hip-hop culture.” As a lover of books and hip-hop, I was intrigued!

Williams is an 80s baby, born to a black self-made scholar and former activist, and white mother in New Jersey. He lands smack dab in the changing hip-hop culture of NY/NJ and is trying to fit in with the culture he’s surrounded with at school. Outside of the home, he acts as though he doesn’t care much about academics, although his father is insistent on high marks. Williams is trying hard to fit a nonchalant, devil-may-care persona at school, but is still drawn to the world his father created of knowledge and learning. He does additional academic work and plays chess with his father nearly every day. In addition, he’s a biracial teen in a still de facto segregated New Jersey town and must deal with the implications of that, trying even harder to fit in by emulating his interpretation of hip-hop culture. Various incidents lead Williams to ‘straighten up’ and eventually he gets a scholarship to Georgetown, much to his father’s delight. But even at Georgetown, he tries to fit a mold that doesn’t particularly mesh with high academic achievement. Once he’s introduced to philosophy, his worldview changes (and of course, his father had been trying to introduce him to this all along!). 

Overall, I enjoyed this memoir. Of course, memoirs allow you to look directly into the author’s life as they present it. I read this with my late 30s brain like “whhhhhy would you do that?!” at some points but I also know that what Williams described happens to a lot of kids in a lot of places throughout the country. There are kids that didn’t grow up in the hood or in “the life” trying to emulate it to fit in. 

I think that the author had a pretty narrow interpretation of what could be considered "hip-hop culture". He grew up in the northeast, but only seemed to listen to Jay, Big, etc.... those he seemed to consider gangsta rap. He was narrow-minded in his music choice (I think) so that (to me) stunted the influence rap had on him and limited his critique to a small sliver of rap. And I think he was ashamed of how deeply he let that influence his actions so he went in the complete opposite direction, almost condemning rap. These may not be his current reflections but at the end of the book, that’s where he seemed to be. There was also some respectability politics sprinkled in, which I side-eyed. I'd be interested to hear Williams’ thoughts on Michael Eric Dyson's words and critiques on hip-hop culture today. 

 
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Daisy Jones and the Six (the series, not the book) has dominated my book social media feed for the past few months, and I wanted to read [listen to] the book before watching.  I'm glad I chose audiobook vs. ebook/physical book for this read. I enjoyed listening to the story but definitely wouldn't have enjoyed as much if I had read.  3 for the actual writing, 5 for the narrator cast.  The narrator cast was FANTASTIC.  It presents much better performed. I wonder why TJR didn't go straight to a screenplay, because I can definitely envision her work on screen. There are a lot of nuances that won't land on a page (or at least don't when she writes them). I'm looking forward to watching the series because it's been so hyped online. 

The actual storyline was… ok. Nothing too unexpected - man and woman band leads clash while secretly falling for each other in the era of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. This makes for a great show, but not really compelling writing. Nevertheless, I was entertained!

 
All That Is Secret by Patricia Raybon

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Patricia Raybon's All That is Secret had me on the edge of my seat! This is an unexpected page-turner that had me suspicious of every character. Annalee Spain is intelligent, tenacious and a true fighter. The only thing that detracted from the storytelling was the constant internal questioning, which may have been used to illustrate Annalee's doubt throughout the storyline. However, it wasn't distracting enough to not enjoy the story! Looking forward to reading the next installment. 
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Spare by Prince Harry

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.25

I didn't discover anything shocking in "Spare" by Prince Harry, although I can fully admit I read to be nosy! What I didn't expect to learn is how incredibly rude and unbrotherly Prince William is...it shouldn't be surprising, but you'd think someone who lost his mom in such a public way at such a young age would have compassion for the one other person on the planet that he could seemingly relate to. Overall, I'm glad that Prince Harry was able to tell his story in his own way. If even one-third of the things revealed in the book are true, it justifies the general belief that the British Royal Family is utter trash. As to the actual writing itself? I didn't expect Pulitzer Prize-level writing. His writing style (and that of his ghostwriter, I imagine) was straightforward and pretty repetitive at times. I think I would have given up on finishing if I read instead of listening to this memoir. 

Also, RETURN THE STOLEN GOODS, ENGLAND!
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

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mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I thought this would be...good. This book was my introduction to Octavia Butler and I read it to fulfill a prompt for a reading challenge I'm participating in. I have read so many glowing reviews for Butler's books, and maybe I should have started with Parable of the Sower or Kindred, because Fledgling fell incredibly flat for me. I had high hopes in the beginning for a suspenseful thriller that scared me just a bit. I got none of that, but got a lot of Ina history, "dispelling" vampire myth, and a bit of discomfort at the imagery of a childlike vampire sexually involved with human adults. Far too much of the later chapters were spent describing the Ina families. I wanted this to be so so much better. I am now hoping Parable of the Sower will not disappoint me as well. 
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North to Paradise by Ousman Umar

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

3.75

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