Happy Hump Day and welcome to the WWW Wednesday post for January 25, 2023! WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that answer these three questions (the Three Ws):
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
If you want to participate and you have a blog, answer the three questions above and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. If you do not have a blog, leave a comment with your responses. Have fun, and check out what other participants are reading. You may find your next great read.
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Note: All book descriptions are from Bookshop.org and StoryGraph.
What are you currently reading?
Another busy week and I’m still in the middle of so many books. Life transitions require me to divert my attention from reading. Hopefully, before its 01/30/2023 release date, I’ll have read and reviewed Angola is Wherever I Plant My Field by João Melo. Fingers crossed (looks to the sky and slowly closes eyes). I am currently reading the following:
ARCs:
Angola is Wherever I Plant My Field by João Melo (Release Date – 1/30/2023)
Call And Response By Gothataone Moeng (Release Date – 2/7/2023)
Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown (Release Date – 2/28/2023)
New Release:
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (2/1/2022)
Backlist:
Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson (7/20/2015)
Angola is Wherever I Plant My Field by João Melo
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Description
In this collection of eighteen humorous absurdist stories, Melo weaves together postmodernism, postcolonial realities and Angolan history, through an intrusive narrator and author. Angola is Wherever I plant My field will make the readers laugh as they reflect on life and society through stories set in Luanda, Haifa, America, and North-Korea.
Call and Response by Gothataone Moeng
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Description
Richly drawn stories about the lives of ordinary families in contemporary Botswana as they navigate relationships, tradition and caretaking in a rapidly changing world.
A young widow adheres to the expectations of wearing mourning clothes for nearly a year, though she’s unsure what the traditions mean or whether she is ready to meet the world without their protection. An older sister returns home from a confusing time in America, only to explain at every turn why she’s left the land of opportunity. A younger sister hides her sexual exploits from her family, while her older brother openly flaunts his infidelity.
The stories collected in Call and Response are strongly anchored in place – in the village of Serowe, where the author is from, and in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana – charting the emotional journeys of women seeking love and opportunity beyond the barriers of custom and circumstance.
Gothataone Moeng is part of a new generation of writers coming out of Africa whose voices are ready to explode onto the literary scene. In the tradition of writers like Chimamanda Adiche and Jhumpa Lahiri, she offers us insight into communities, experiences and landscapes through stories that are cinematic in their sweep, with unforgettable female protagonists.
Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown
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Description
A warm and wry family drama with a magical twist about four generations of Black women living under one roof and the family curse that stems back to a Voodoo shop in 1950s New Orleans
“Propulsive and poignant, Black Candle Women concocts an intoxicating potion of warmth, wisdom, and wonder.” –Ava DuVernay
Generations of Montrose women–Augusta, Victoria, Willow–have lived together in their quaint two-story bungalow in California for years. They keep to themselves, never venture far from home, and their collection of tinctures and spells is an unspoken bond between them.
But when seventeen-year-old Nickie Montrose brings home a boy for the first time, their quiet lives are thrown into disarray. For the other women have been withholding a secret from Nickie that will end her relationship before it’s even begun: the decades-old family curse that any person they fall in love with dies.
Their surprise guest forces each woman to reckon with her own past choices and mistakes. And as new truths about the curse emerge, the family is set on a collision course dating back to a Voodoo shop in 1950s New Orleans’s French Quarter–where a hidden story in a mysterious book may just hold the answers they seek in life and in love…
“Richly imagined and elegantly told, with plenty of satisfying secrets, heartaches, and twists.”
–Sadeqa Johnson, international bestselling author of Yellow Wife and The House of Eve
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
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Description
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! – Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise–undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world.
“I loved The Violin Conspiracy for exactly the same reasons I loved The Queen’s Gambit a surprising, beautifully rendered underdog hero I cared about deeply and a fascinating, cutthroat world I knew nothing about–in this case, classical music.” –Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and Hour of the Witch
Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream–he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music.
When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition–the Olympics of classical music–the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he’s lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself–and the world–that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.
Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
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Description
An alluring new collection from the author of the New York Times Notable Book, Midnight Robber Nalo Hopkinson (Brown Girl in the Ring, The Salt Roads, Sister Mine) is an internationally-beloved storyteller. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as having “an imagination that most of us would kill for,” her Afro-Caribbean, Canadian, and American influences shine in truly unique stories that are filled with striking imagery, unlikely beauty, and delightful strangeness.
In this long-awaited collection, Hopkinson continues to expand the boundaries of culture and imagination. Whether she is retelling The Tempest as a new Caribbean myth, filling a shopping mall with unfulfilled ghosts, or herding chickens that occasionally breathe fire, Hopkinson continues to create bold fiction that transcends boundaries and borders.
What did you recently finish reading?
Surprise, surprise! I finished one book. We Knew All Along by Mina Hardy was a fun time. If you want to know what I think about this book, check out my review.
We Knew All Along by Mina Hardy
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Description
Writing as Mina Hardy, New York Times bestselling author Megan Hart, delivers a twisted tale of domestic suspense where no one is what they seem–and the skeletons in the closet are all too real.
Blame the booze, her shaky marriage, her troubled son, or a thousand other things. Jewelann Jordan has one thing on her mind when she attends her class reunion, and that’s making sure her old crush Christian Campbell sees exactly what he lost all those years ago. A late night, a hotel room, a rekindled flame that burns even hotter than it did back then.
What could go wrong?
Everything.
The night with Christian isn’t the first secret Jewelann has kept from her husband Ken, so one more shouldn’t be much harder–except that Christian shows up without warning, seemingly determined to do his best to mess up Jewelann’s life in any way he can. Worse than that, he seems to have his sights set on charming her son, Eli, and befriending her husband. Revenge isn’t so sweet when it bites you back, but Jewelann is determined to keep Christian from ruining everything she’s worked so hard to keep safe, including her son.
Fighting to keep it all from spiraling out of control, Jewelann discovers Christian is not the man he claims to be. When darker secrets emerge, even closer to home, Jewelann takes the chance to turn the tables on him. The more Jewelann digs for the truth, the uglier–and the deadlier–it gets.
What do you think you’ll read next?
I’m still having a moment (lol). This slot is empty this week.
QOTD (Questions of the Day)
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Let me know in the comments below.
Happy Reading!
