I bought a gang of books back in February and I've been a reading fool since....take a looksee



I couldn't WAIT to read Something Like Beautiful by one of my favorite authors ever, Asha Bandele.  She didn't disappoint.  I will read it again and again.  Asha's writing is so heart felt.  Mothering is something special and her baby girl Nisa has taught her so much.  I'm holding out for a happy ending...one day, true freedom will find them.

I finally read Alek Wek's memoir and wow, she is so humble.  I love that even now after all the fame, she is still so down to earth.  Did you know that she had a terrible skin condition most of her life.  She got the lesson early, innner beauty is vital! She was called ugly and made fun of for a very long time.  She most definately doesn't rely on pretty.

A read the book jacket of A Piece of Cake a while back and mentally added it to my list.  Whoa.  Cupcake Brown has had quite a life!  This is yet another awful story of foster care gone bad.  Think Antoine Fisher.  Right now things aren't looking good for black women as foster mothers, damn!  Can we get one success story?  The problem is that most people are in it for the money and well why wouldn't they be when it is advertised this way?  If I wasn't married to an ogre I so would be a foster mom, a good foster mom!  Anywho, Cupcake ends up in foster care after her mother dies and her life goes downhill, prostitution, drugs, steling, gangs, you name it.  But she gets her life together and becomes a lawyer.  Go girl!  She writes as she talks, it was a fun read.  Reminded me of Tam.  Unfortunately the book came out right after James Frey fiasco so some questioned if her life was real.....um, we's black, we ain't got time to make up sob stories, we live it! And she had a lot of people to back her up.

I met Rebecca Walker at a women's conference I used to be involved in and she was real cool.  This was back when her first memoir came out.  I heard she had a second memoir, Baby Love and made a mental note to get it.  Then all hell broke loose with her mama.  It was a good book, a lil sad but good.  It is pretty much written in a journal style from the day she finds out she is pregnant till after she gives birth to her Tenzin.

I also got the book she edited, One Big Happy Family cause Asha is in it.  It is a book of essays on different kinds of families.

An advantage on working for one of the larges book sellers is that gems come across your path that you would have never heard of.  In this case it was Space Between the Stars by Deborah Santana.  Another memoir, I know.  I loved this book.  Her quiet power reminds me so much of myself.  At the time of the writing she was Carlos Santana's wife, they have since divorced.  She is working on a second memoir.  I was highly annoyed by the cheating in the book and the excuses, seriously, is boning that important? I'll never get it!

I've loved Edwidge Dandicat forever.  I love that she writes about culture in such a personal way.  I've been meaning to pick up Brother, I'm Dying and finally did.  I'm reading it now and taking my time.  I want to savor each word.

I came across I Was Told They'd Be Cake by Sloan Crosley and heard all these good reviews.  I am working on a book of essays and wanted to see what was out there.  Haven't read this one yet.

7 books from end of Feb till mid April...not bad.